I admit I?m obsessed with this subject, but WTF? How did this player get to be the sixth overall pick in the draft? No one I talk to or hear from at the Jets will claim responsibility. Everyone points in the direction of Cleveland and former head coach Eric Mangini as the main and only culprit. But since I?m now reading ?Legacy of Secrecy? (thanks, Dr. Mike) about the Kennedy assassination, I have my own conspiracy theory on Gholston. Here goes: Because no one has claimed this pick (Rex Ryan is a loyal employee on this subject and has tried to put the best spin on it) or seems to understand how it transpired, it must have been Gholston himself. We know that Gholston was in New York City the day of the draft in 2008. He could have quietly moved from the green room to the Jets table after the Chiefs picked Glen Dorsey, held the two Jets employees against their will, then written his own name on a card, carried the card to Joel Bussert of the NFL personnel office and proceed to walk up to the stage to shake hands with Commissioner Roger Goodell. Then his very talented agent, Ben Dogra, could have persuaded the Jets to pay huge sums of money to a player they never wanted to avoid the embarrassment of turning in the wrong card. The crime is committed and the cover-up begins. Amazing, right? How else could this have happened? I know this: The coaches in Houston are hoping the Jets have to start Gholston in the opener. http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Diner-morning-news-What-the-cuts-mean.html&startrow=12#Comments
It's a good theory but it just doesn't work in the end. There's absolutely no way Gholston could have coordinated holding two people against their will. He just doesn't have the instincts or technique to pull that off. He'd have been great on the first attempt to get in the door but then it would have broken down shortly thereafter.
if I could find the reports, which I probably won't - Mangini was the one who wanted VG most. Tanny liked him too, but Eric was the one who pushed hard for this kid. Don't use hindsight with mayo or McKelvin. he was a top 10 pick and went top 10
not a huge mckelvin fan, but ya, mayo would be huge. But we would be without Scott, which would make the whole rex regime in tough to have a seamless transition.
As much as I hated the idea that the Pats tricked the Jets into drafting VG, Mangini was so paranoid of New England that it's hard to deny at this point.
Yes, I think Mangini had a lot to do with Gholston being here. I hope they guy works out OK, but clearly he is on the Bubble and has major bust potential rivalling DRob at this point.
We were in a tough spot that year in the draft, and Gholston seemed like the best pick at number 6. There were reports we tried to trade down to get more picks, but were unable to.
to be honest while D-rob never lived up to the hype, at least the guy played for us, and started and wasnt awful. He was never as good as he was billed to be, and not worth the #4 pick in the draft and not worth what we paid to move up, but he did have some reasonably productive seasons here, even if his motto was once "can't nobody block me" Gholston on the other hand was a healthy scratch in his rookie year, is set to make tons more money than d-rob and at the same time, has been 100% invisible. Unless we see significant improvement from Gholston, he will have redefined the term bust.
Yeah, Mangini seemed to always take half his cues from what he believed and half his cues from what the Patriots have done/are doing. It is awfully hard to think that the Pats drafting Mayo had no impact on Mangini's draft choice. And yeah. Gholston is rapidly approaching bust status, despite what some eternal-optimists might have you believe.
The way that draft played out I was convinced that the Patriots were going to draft Gholston if he were still available at 7. The Jets took him at 6 and then the Patriots immediately traded the 7th pick and moved back to the 10th pick. I can't remember what team they traded with or what they got in addion to the 10th for the 7th. But once Gholston was off the board they no longer wanted the 7th. I'm assuming that their second choice was Mayo and they felt he would still be there at 10. If they wanted Mayo the whole time they wouldn't have waited to make a move until after Gholston was off the board.
As annoyed as I got with some of his decisions, I find it hard to believe that Belichick would sign off on a division rival trading for Jenkins, drafting Revis, Harris, Brick, Mangold and Leon, and signing Pace. We have a pretty nice core of players and Mangini was a big part of that.
NO wanted Dorsey and the Chiefs wouldn't make the deal and took him. They decided to move up to take the 2nd prize in the interior DL by moving up and ensuring they got Ellis. The Pats didn't have a good trade down until the Chiefs decided to take Dorsey. Not saying they didn't want Gholston but you can't assume that based on the trade down after we picked Gholston. In order to trade down you need a partner and a target at the new draft spot.
Haven't we had enough threads about Vernon "Ghost" Gholston yet? This was a really nice attempt by the OP to make light of the situation and you nerds dragged it off the tracks and into the bushes, again...
If Mangini was that big of a Gholston fan you think he'd have selected him as one of the guys he wanted in the trade for the Sanchez pick.
not when he was scratched from the gameday roster and his contract may have something in it that hurts the Jets if he's traded.
My post was more about the fact that Lombardi can't stop writing about Gholston. Every day he writes something more. You never hear a word from him about all the great players the Jets have drafted since Tannenbaum took over.
He knows that Gholston's crappiness gets on the nerves of Jets fans. Sportswriters know how to get people to read, for that you can't fault them. It's their job.
Conspiracy theories are dopey. Draft picks bust, especially top 10 picks. Gholston's probably one of them.
