I don't think you can under-estimate the impact missing those begining practices had, especially for a guy like Gholston who probably needs extra attention in the teaching aspect. Plus I can see Mangini getting down on him and not willing to insert a guy he's not confident in down the playoff stretch. Hopefully he starts putting it together this year.
Listen I gurantee that if he releases off the edge and crushes a quaterback early in the season he will get his confidence back and bart scott will be in his ear and maybe give him some swager of his own. if so he might turn into something... for some reason maybe it is because he is a quiet guy or something but I feel that if produces early and starts believing he is a beast,,he will come into his own....
My only two things that come to mind are that if ryan can;t bring the best out of Gholston, nobody can. This is Gholston's year to really start showing something. The second is, Gholston makes a point about his rookie year and saying things to the effect that, everyone's expectations were too high, or something like that. When you are drafted #6 and given a $20M signing bonus fans are expecting something and have a right to. There were a lot of other rookies who were drafted beneath Gholston who more than amply out-performed him. Nevertheless, 2009 is a new year. There are no more excuses.
He should be patient, he's going to get 20 million dollars whether he has 10 sacks per season or 10 naps per season..
He's got skeighty-eight gazillion fukking dollars. I'd be patient for Jupiter to fall out of the sky and blow us out of the universe, too.
I'm certainly no expert at playing football. But when I played in high school, I always wanted to be a defensive end/OLB type player but wasn't big enough so I was a defensive back. I envied those guys up front because their job seemed so much easier, it was either kill the QB or kill the RB. In the defensive backfield, to me there seemed to be so many other variables. So for someone like me with experience playing football (albeit just pre-college), it's hard for me to understand why someone like Gholston who is supposedly a super freak athelete can't figure out how to kill the QB or RB. What is so complicated about this????? What am I missing? It seems to me that even if you were really dumb you could be coached to be a QB killer if you were a super freak athelete. He should be way more than a specialized player given his contract but still, if he was just a QB killer specialist I think we'd all be happier. (Obviously this year hasn't started but it seems like so far he isn't impressing anyone)
He better reach his potential because he is the X factor on this D. He is the one single player on the D that can be the difference between a good D and a great D. I wasn't high on him coming out of college but the bust label at 22 years old and after one full season is beyond ridiculous. I'm pretty confident that Rex and this CS will get the best out of him, hopefully this year cause we desperately need him.
The fans certainly have a right to have high expectations..but that doesn't mean it's realistic. The current system eliminates the entire purpose of the draft process of drafting for the FUTURE. Yes, there are certain rookies who shine their rookie year and some continue to develop into pro bowlers while others fizzle out after the first year. Us Jet fans have seen plenty of that w/ guys like Terry Day,Erik Coleman,Erik Macmillan,and Victor Hobson. But most prospects need to be given time to learn the given scheme, develop proper technique, adjust to the speed of the game, and learn the proper conditioning for 17+ weeks. Gholston is no exception to this. In fact....he's a definitive "developmental" prospect. Why was he drafted so early than? B/c he has an extremely high ceiling. Freakish size,strength,power and speed to go along w/ a very impressive final season at a championship level college powerhouse. But the flaws were there on tape. He needed to get quicker off the snap,develop SOME type of moves w/ his hands, and obviously needed to adjust to an NFL 3-4 scheme. It obviously hasnt been easy for him. Can you blame the jets for making the pick than? Sure. In this era, perhaps taking a lower ceiling but quicker rate of growth may have been the better, safer,and cheaper bet. But no one really denied at the time of the draft that he was the best player available by FAR at that spot. Also, if you look at other sports like the NBA,MLB and NHL...First round picks are historically filled w/ High ceiling types who are usually crapshoots. I'm not sure why people forget this. The fact is, whether people like it or not they're going to have to show patience w/ Gholston. They can whine and complain all they want about the selection and his high cap number. The reality is, he's on the team, he needs time to develop...and w/ his raw skills has a chance to be special at SOME POINT. Deal with it.
great post.... you can't blame vernon gholston for the NFL rookie scale. his contract has nothing to do with him. mangini ran a complicated scheme and for someone to completely alter their game, while missing a significant portion of OTA's, is pretty difficult. The learning curve varies from player to player...people are too quick to write this kid off.
One year is too quick though a very disappointing rookie campaign.. my thing is he didnt even show flashes of what could be... hopefully he just had a Mario Williams type of rookie year and were in for a treat in years to come...
Yea, but he didn't really show any of that freakish speed, strength etc....really, nothing. And what I mean is, for his "raw" skills, he didn't look that fast at all.
That was/is my biggest concern. He looked slow and clunky. I know Mangini had him thinking too much which, consequently, stalled his development -- but I'm just talking about general speed, i.e. running fast. I don't care how much he had to think and grasp, that's really not gonna make you run slower when you're chasing down Jay Cutler one-on-one. I thought perhaps he needed to drop a few pounds and get lighter; or maybe he could just work with a speed coach.
I've said it before, I'll say it again: If you can get your hands on the game footage for the rare times Gholston comes in the game, look at his pass rushing. It's slow, he's trying to keep his head on a swivel rather than plowing through or going around the guy. Looks more like he's pass blocking than pass rushing. Watch him move when the play goes behind him. When the pass goes over his head, he turns and breaks and you see that ridiculous speed that people gushed about at the combine. Play in front of him (like when he was chasing Cutler on the rollout), slow. Play behind him, fast. It sounds like thinking too much to me, but it could also be a case of the stupids. You never know.
Right. And that's true to an extent. I agree, someone who's slow or who runs a 6.8 40 cannot really be taught to run a 4.3. However, we've seen Gholston display speed on the field in college and at the combine. So he definitely possesses that ability. There are speed coaches who can work with athletes to increase their speed. Athletes from baseball players to track runners have been instructed by these coaches; but, yes, the athlete must initially possess some amount of speed before it can be increased.
I think Gholston under-achieved playing for Mangini because he is the kind of coach that makes you think 3 times what you are doing on every play... and if your strength are speed and power and not quick thinking then you're fucked... If you say to Gholston "On each play you have to understand what happens and then decide if you should drop back or rush the QB" then he'll play slow because he still isn't able to process all the information. You can be as strong and quick as you want but if you don't know what to do you'll look lost and slow. But if you tell him "Locate the QB and kill him" all you have to worry about is that he is quicker and faster then the opposing Tackle or Guard. I think that's how Ryan will use Gholston... and he'll succeed doing so.
I haven't seen or don't recall, but I'll take your word for it... which is, thus, a really good point. I know he has that speed, so if he exhibited it when chasing someone down from behind, then that's the proof. Maybe he was overthinking even something as simple as closing in on a scrambling QB. Or maybe he just has much more straight-line speed? I don't know. I'm hoping it's the former because, more often than not, the path to the backfield isn't a straight line. Bottom line is, as long as he plays faster that'll be improvement enough because it'll create problems for opposing Offenses.
My greatest fear is that he's lacking in anything resembling a killer instinct. I hope its a confidence problem/fear of screwing up/tendency to think too much. He's got the size, strength & speed. If he doesnt have the smarts, then it just might be worth it to tell the guy to forget the scheme, just rush the backfield for those first few opportunities he gets on the field. If he has to chase the play from behind - at least he's fast.
Progress report on Gladys. Its nice that Kerry Notes that after a whole year, Vern will be a year older , nice work there KR :wink:
