Buzz: Will Gholston Be Shut Down for Remainder of Season?
Vernon Gholston’s play this season is an important story, and it’s clear that the writers are trying to get a sense of what the rest of the season and, maybe more importantly, the future holds for him.
Rich Cimini noted on his blog Thursday that he had some questions for rookie Vernon Gholston about his inactive status last Sunday, and probed a little bit to get a sense of what he thinks his status will be in the next two weeks.
[I] talked to Vernon Gholston about being inactive for the Buffalo game. He said he didn’t raise any objections with the coaches, that he just wants to help the team win. That sounded incongruous coming from the 6th pick in the draft, who, in most cases, would be helping the team by actually playing.
I’m glad to have an update, but this by no means makes my blood boil after the way his first season has gone. I’ve already chalked it up to a learning process, one in which he is clearly struggling to tread water. Every other first rounder of this regime has been thrown in a major contributors (even his rookie teammate Dustin Keller has had a large part) but Gholston seems to be the exception to the rule.
Yes, his progress has taken longer than I expected, but that doesn’t mean he’s a complete washout either. Erik Boland agrees with that though, even though he thinks Gholston might be shut down for the rest of this season.
One player I think will be automatically back on that list is Vernon Gholston. Asked about [Gholston] today, Mangini used the word “progress” again, but wasn’t selling it very emphatically. I think Gholston’s first year is done. No, I’m still not calling him a bust – I don’t do that for first-year guys – but this offseason, obvious, will be critical for him.
He’s young, he doesn’t have as much football under his belt as others his age might, and he’s learning a new and fairly difficult role at this level. He’s got the physical talents, but he needs to devour film and work with his betters (whether it’s LT or someone else) on his technique. That’s what this offseason should be in large part about for him.
I’m speaking with no real knowledge about the situation here, but the problem for Gholston is that most of his learning is likely going to have to come from his coaches or outsiders, but probably not guys in his group. Even if Calvin Pace and Bryan Thomas are the best of dudes, they might not be all that willing to share all they’ve learned with him through their own struggles to establish themselves in this league, as they’d basically be helping him to take their job.
we’re 9 and 5…fighting for the playoffs…this is worry for another day
I agree.. but I was really hoping to have someone nasty to help give us more options at OLB. I really hope this dude works out or else we totally wasted a high pick…….I hate to say another draft day screw up to add to the list.
I said it leading up to and during the draft. VG = mike mamula. When are teams going to learn not to draft players based solely on combine performance.
BUST! Most peeps make excuses for this chump by saying he doesn’t have a lot of experience – then why on earth are they keeping him away from the field where, um, he would get experience? Here’s an answer: because he sucks! And lets not kid ourselves, the true cost to our team is opportunity cost. Even if he is good next year, we got nothing out of him this year where every other pick in the first round is contributing to their respective teams.
Guess I was right all along about his rookie season. Maybe I will be right about the fact that he’ll develop in year two as well….
Bent, on May 19th, 2008 at 12:29 pm Said:
[in response to suggestion that Gholston will get at least ten sacks this season]
Good grief. I’ll take the under.
If he has more than 3 sacks at the halfway point of the season, I’ll be (pleasantly) amazed.
Fonzie, on May 19th, 2008 at 8:18 pm Said:
Bent:
Are you joking. You can’t be serious.!! Venom getting only three sacks this year? What is wrong with you man. If that happens you can kiss our front seven gooodbye this year. Also kiss our season goodgye. Straitghten out and fly right. Are you pulling for the Jets or what?
If they would put him in the actual D-line rotation, he would produce.
Next year he will be worth it.
The whole combine thing is blown out of proportion. You know who’s stock rose dramatically with a great combine performance? Jared Mayo.
Its a good thing Dustin is working out, and 4th round gems like Leon and TJ (Not drafted, but traded a 4th rounder, so counts as a 4th round pick in my book!) are on the team. Makes this pick somewhat manageable if it turns out to be a bust. Just imagine if we got some garbage in later rounds PLUS a bust of a 6th overall pick!!!!
I’ll give him until the 10th game of next season to turn the corner before he officially gets a bust label. Right now, hes just labeled as dissapointing to me.
Bassett..I don’t argue that other first rounders of this regime have been solid contributors in year one, but unless I am mistaken, none of them possessed the unique combination of coming out as a Junior *AND* changing positions. Not saying that proves he will or won’t be a bust, only that as you alluded, it’s way too early for anyone to be using the “B” word.
Let’s see how he does next year after a full off-season program, including mini-camps and the like, and hopefully he takes a major step forward next year. It might not include vaulting into a starting role (though that would be nice), but he should at least be a major contributor next season.
“When are teams going to learn not to draft players based solely on combine performance.”
maybe you forget but he had a pretty good junior year on the field. he was a 1st team all american, big 10 lineman of the year, and set the OSU single season sack record.
of course his combine performance helped him. so did dustin keller’s. no one had keller as a 1st rounder until they saw his 40 time. you cant have it both ways, praising the FO for keller and slamming them for gholsten.
Thomas is looking for a new contract. I’m glad someone finally said it, intentionally hampering the kid’s transition into the defense.
I think it would help the team greatly to have fresh linebackers gunning for quarterbacks heads.
I’m not counting him out yet, but I think VG issues have more to do with his natural interest and desire to play football than skill and ability. I’m no psychologist, but when it is all said and done, I would not be surprised to find out that he ends up just like Cedric Huston or the defensive version of Johhny Mitchell and that he just isn’t that much into playing football after a while. He has all the talent but the big question is, does he have the heart?
Drafting this kid high is the ONLY thing we’ve done for him. No offseason, position change, burried under Pace and BT. Talk about a confidence killer. I also think Murrell would have done much better than Gholston this year but he was burried under VG due to him being a high draft pick. Murrell and Clowney need to see the field more!
VG the Johnny Mitchell of Defence… I don’t know how to feel about that. Can Keller be as good as Mitchell?
BT is looking for a new contract? Didn’t he just get a huge 5-year deal two years ago?
I have the feeling Dan will be looking mighty silly this time next year. Not that he’ll be around to eat his crow.
Dan – Demarcus Ware sucked his first year be careful what you say
It wouldn’t surprise me if Gholston is done for the year. Whether he’s’ going to thrive in year two or end up a bust, he obviously hasn’t shown enough to gain Mangini’s confidence in sub packages as the stakes get higher.
This late in the season, the starters are more worn down and backups may wind up with more key snaps. As Mangini is fond of saying, games can turn on one play. He’s going to play the guys he feels are most likely to contribute, or least likely to cost the team on a mistake.
A 6th round pick not playing much at all through 15 weeks and Dan breaks the news that he is a bust. Well done.
Sorry, 6th pick, not round.
And I am not agreeing, you cannot call someone a bust when you don’t know what his future holds, but to this point it was a pretty silly comment when we all know what he has(n’t) accomplished to this point.
Greg and Electric Ham, he’s not playing… he’s not sniffing the field. Seriously, how does that help his lack of experience?
And LOL about the Demarcus Ware analogy – Ware had 58 tackles and 8 sacks in 2005 (his rookie year). Vernon’s had 12 tackles so far and that projects to 13 by end of year if Mangini plays him.
I don’t give 6th overall picks the benefit of the doubt. I’m a Jets fan. B.U.S.T. BUST BUST BUST until proven otherwise and lets baby step with playing time and take it from there.
anyone hear LT on wfan with fatcessa last week? he said he liked what he saw in gholston and thinks he’ll be “a real good” player.
told a story that parcells had asked him to work with ware during ware’s rookie year in dallas, and LT’s response was work with what?
said gholston was ahead of ware in his rookie year and how this is a very difficult defense to pick up for a rookie making a position change.
in other words, still way too early to judge. year 3.
When I see Gholston do absolutely nothing in pre-season and regular season, it is shocking. I would love to blame this on coaching but, if I was playing and the coaches were putting me down and placing me in bad positions — I would play like an animal, to get myself into the starting line-up. When I see Gholston play, he shows no enthusiasm. I think I agree with david i. – he might not want to play. The other option is drugs – lack of steroids or ingestion of illegal substances. You never know. I guess we will find out next year. I agree with the first post.
All the intangible questions about VG point to issues about character, etc., which is where Tangini is supposed to be better than the rest. Remember all the draft talk about wanting “football players.” Clearly, unless they took VG simply to spite the Patriots (not a bad assumption), VG passed big time on the intangibles that Tangini demands in a high draft pick. So what went wrong? What then explains, for example, why he is a terrible special teamer, where a raw talent would be fine, I presume. Go through some options: he has some injury we don’t know about? Possible, but not likely. He is neither an LB nor a DL player, something they only figured out in camp? Again, not likely. He’s a head case? Hard to judge from TV and radio. He’s lazy? What explains his gym-rat status? My guess, barring other leads, is that he has off-the-field issues and is swimming in the speed and complications of pro football. But it’s much too early to give up on the guy, unless you want to write off $21 big ones. Before they draft a guy, doesn’t he work out with some pros who then pass along reactions? At work, everyone gets to interview “the new guy.” In the NFL? But then a lot of smart guys wanted in on Ryan Leaf.
While I have been disappointed with VG’s play (or overall lack of impact), calling him a bust at this point is ridiculous. He was junior and due to OSU’s late graduation, didn’t have much mini-camp (other OSU juniors have had same issue). Throw in (i) a position change, (ii) complex defense, (iii) not that much time on the field, and (iv) more limited blitzing on d, I would cut the guy some slack. Let’s give him another year or so before writing him off.
I hated the whole idea of drafting VG and was flamed daily for it. My criticisms have all panned out. He was a component part of a great defense and was not “the Man” at OSU. That’s a big red flag for me because that discounts his stats. His pass rushing was strictly a speed edge rusher, the easiest pass rush for an NFL LT to stop. He was not a good form tackler. I never thought he would have a rookie impact and I thought he would be an expensive project, especially because the weak side OLB is the premier position among 3-4 LBs. No way VG was ready for it.
Now, what can the Jets do? They more or less have to hope he pans out. He needs a lot of remedial work and the desire to make himself a good NFL player. IMO, he cashes out and goes back to body-building.