Last week we announced that the Columbus Explorers had traded away WR Larry Cruz, LOLB Braxton Griffith, DE Terrell Vaughn and TE Deonte Phillips with two trades. We can now add Darius Young II to that list as it was just announced that the team has made a third trade, this time with the San Diego Crusaders. The trade is a simple player for player swap with Columbus sending Darius Young II over for CB Marlon Pointer.
The acquisition of Pointer is strictly a depth/role player situation. It was already announced that the team intends to transition him back to his natural position at safety so he can fill the spot left behind by Dashon Robinson when he was traded just before the draft. Nicholson gave us a few questions after practice today and this is what he had to say about his new safety. "You know you are always concerned when you have to move a guy to a different position but Marlon took to it real quick. He has played that spot before so it isn't gonna be a tough transition for him. He has some terminology that he has to learn but he is a true pro so I don't see any issues in that department."
The departure of Young II came as a shock to some seeing as the team just spent a 3rd round pick on him 2 seasons ago. There are a lot of things we could say that led to him not really evolving into the back the team envisioned, but at this point we don't have a clear answer. After the team spent another high pick on a half back this past draft it was easy to see the writing on the wall for Young II and a fresh start is probably the best thing for him anyway.
"I don't want to make it seem like we gave up on Darius, we all know that he has some talent but at the end of the day it just didn't work out here. Its unfortunate because we loved having him around and he was a great teammate and we wish him nothing but the best." Nicholson added.