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DE Vernon Gholston (Official Thread)

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Bears can save Vernon Gholston if he just keeps listening
By JOE COWLEY [email protected]
August 18, 2011

BOURBONNAIS, Ill. ? Bears defensive end Vernon Gholston isn?t very comfortable talking about his days with the New York Jets.

Three seasons, zero sacks, tens of thousands of critics.

That?s not exactly the career path a No. 6 overall draft pick is supposed to take.

Then, when it seemed it couldn?t get worse for the former Ohio State standout in the court of public opinion, Rex Ryan?s book Play It Like You Mean It hit the stands in the spring. This is the same Rex Ryan who, when he became the Jets coach, promised of Gholston, ??If he doesn?t do it for this team, he?s never going to do it.??

In the book, Rexy pulled no punches, writing, ??I didn?t like the kid coming out of college. He?s a good athlete and a smart guy. But I thought he was a phony.??

On the list of labels you never want to wear as an NFL player, ??phony?? is near the bottom, just above ??coward?? and ??soft.??

Ryan later told the New York media that it was Gholston?s college stats and combine numbers that were phony, not Gholston himself, but the damage was done.

??The thing for me is that it doesn?t bother me so much because I know what kind of football player I can be, given the role I should have,?? Gholston said, addressing his critics and the idea he has been a bust. ??You ask anyone that was with me in New York ? as far as what I was asked to do, I did it, and I did it pretty well.??

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http://www.suntimes.com/sports/7147...rnon-gholston-if-he-just-keeps-listening.html
 
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No 'gigantic leap' for Bears' Gholston
By TOM MUSICK ? [email protected]

BOURBONNAIS ? Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli has seen impressive glimpses from defensive end Vernon Gholston, but he wants to see more.

?Small things,? Marinelli said Thursday. ?It?s not the gigantic leap.?

Gholston, 25, is trying to revive his career after three unimpressive seasons with the New York Jets. He was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2008 NFL Draft but started only five of 45 games with the Jets while failing to register a sack.

Patience was key to succeeding with the Bears, Gholston said.

?I'm two weeks into practice, so you say, ?Well, shoot,? [and] you look at it day by day and you can kind of get down on yourself,? Gholston said. ?But it's only been two weeks. So imagine another two weeks and imagine another two weeks from there. That's what you have to keep focusing on.?

Marinelli said Gholston had some of his best practices this week.

?Sometimes you won?t see it with the little things,? Marinelli said. ?But I think he?s progressing, and we just have to stay positive with him, keep working with him and believing in him, and it?ll come.?
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http://www.nwherald.com/2011/08/19/no-gigantic-leap-for-bears-gholston/ano2gz4/
 
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First-round bust Gholston opts to play blame Gang
Jets Blog
By BART HUBBUCH
August 23, 2011

Vernon Gholston might have been an epic bust for the Jets, but he refuses to take all the blame.

A seriously delusional Gholston doled out some of the fault to coach Rex Ryan and the Jets, too, saying last night he didn't get a fair shot in three wholly unproductive seasons with Gang Green.

Now a backup defensive end trying to hang on with the Bears, Gholston -- he of zero sacks in 48 games as a Jet -- said after a 41-13 preseason loss to the Giants the deck was stacked against him when Ryan took over in 2009.

"I heard how he was perceiving me before the [2008] draft, before he knew me, and I was the same way -- I wasn't hoping for him to be [my] first coach of the Jets when I was there, either," said Gholston, a holdover from the Eric Mangini regime.

Gholston, the sixth overall pick out of Ohio State, still feels he didn't get a fair shot with Ryan or his staff despite their sometimes-desperate efforts -- both position switches and psychological ploys -- to get him to produce.

"Being a first-round pick, you would have hoped for more [of a chance]," said Gholston, who added his release by the Jets last winter was "a needed move."

Gholston indicated his displeasure with Ryan wasn't limited just to a lack of snaps.

A comment the coach made soon after taking over still seems to sting Gholston, whose quiet, sensitive demeanor and lack of intensity have been among the biggest knocks on him as a pro.

"Rex made a comment to me when he first came in that he thought I wasn't liked by the guys on the team, then once he got there he saw that wasn't the case," Gholston said. "Those perceptions kind of determine the outcome, and it's sad to say."

Gholston also accused Ryan of playing favorites with former Ravens such as Bart Scott that the coach brought with him from Baltimore.

"Whenever you have a new coach, you hope everything's fair," Gholston said. "But obviously, he was in Baltimore for a number of years and has a passion for those guys."

Cont...
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Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets..._opts_to_7ozJ8NvFTe0vbcC1DVCS2H#ixzz1VqsGJURD

Gholston makes return to the Meadowlands
August, 23, 2011
By Jane McManus

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Vernon Gholston was back at the New Meadowlands Stadium on Monday night, but he didn?t dress in the home team locker room. After his new team's 41-13 loss to the Giants in a preseason game, Gholston -- the former Jet now playing defensive end for the Chicago Bears -- said Jets coach Rex Ryan had the wrong idea about him from the start.

?Rex made a comment to me when he first came in that he thought I wasn?t liked by the guys on the team,? Gholston said. ?But once he got there he saw it was a different case, and those perceptions kind of weigh into, determine the outcome and it?s sad to say.?

Gholston said he had to leave the Jets if he wanted to be a better player. In March, the Jets cut him after three seasons without a single recorded sack.

?Personally I think it was a needed move for me, for my growth as a football player,? Gholston said. ?I didn?t think I was going to be able to be as productive as I wanted to be as a football player, and sometimes that happens.?

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http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/6646/gholston-makes-return-to-the-meadowlands

Gholston not golden: Former first-round pick Vernon Gholston obviously isn’t making much of an impact with the Bears, judging from the way the club used him in the rotation against the Giants.

Perhaps it’s reading too much into the situation, but we certainly took notice of the fact the Bears inserted Nick Reed into the lineup early in the second quarter as Gholston remained on the sidelines. A former seventh-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 2009, Reed has been somewhat of a journeyman after finishing a college career at Oregon in which he posted a school-record 29.5 sacks (also fourth in Pac-10 annals).

Gholston, meanwhile, produced his best practice of training camp last week. But it’s obvious he’ll have a tough time cracking the team’s defensive line rotation. Minutes after Reed took snaps, the Bears inserted undrafted rookie Mario Addison as Gholston remained on the sidelines.
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http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bea...pidreaction/rapid-reaction-giants-41-bears-13
 
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Gholston's Ryan rip way off base
Jets Blog
August 24, 2011
Mark Cannizzaro

Well, thank goodness for this: We finally have a reason for why Vernon Gholston failed to fulfill the potential that got him picked as the eighth overall player in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Jets coach Rex Ryan didn't give him a chance.

That apparently is Gholston's story -- as told to a couple of reporters after Monday night's Giants-Bears preseason game -- and he apparently is sticking to it.

If he believes that tale of woe, this is what that makes Gholston, signed by the Bears after the Jets released him in the offseason: delusional.

Take it from someone who has covered him since he was drafted by the Jets and made a millionaire before ever suiting up in an NFL uniform: No one in Gholston's NFL career gave him more chances to succeed, propped him up publicly and protected him from criticism more than Ryan.

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Getty Images
SAY WHAT?!?! Vernon Gholston's statement that coach Rex Ryan -- who often protected the defensive end during his time with the Jets -- didn't give him a chance is not true, Mark Cannizzaro says.

No one.

Not Eric Mangini, who was his first head coach. Not any of Mangini's assistant coaches. Not Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum, who drafted him. Not his former teammates.

But Ryan, from the first day he was asked about Gholston, talked him up like he was his son, confident he could make him a productive player.

When the results on the field from Gholston never came close to backing up Ryan's words, Ryan found good things to say about him.

And for all the loyalty Ryan showed him, Gholston had the audacity to accuse Ryan of prejudging him before he coached him and not giving him a fair shot.

"I hear how he was perceiving me before the draft, before he knew me," Gholston said Monday. "Being a first-round pick, you would have hoped for more [of a chance]."

More of a chance?

Cont...
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Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/jets...off_base_JzNaBRBRCp8w2scl5fAY0L#ixzz1Vx6sy2fo
August 23, 2011,
Ryan Says He Gave Gholston a Chance
By BEN SHPIGEL

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. ? The underachieving former Jets lineman Vernon Gholston, now with the Chicago Bears, told reporters after Monday?s preseason game against the Giants that Rex Ryan did not give him a ?fair chance? to succeed. Not surprisingly, Ryan felt differently.

Ryan, the Jets? coach, said he was ?confused? why Gholston, released in March after three sackless seasons, would blame him for his stalled career.

?I don?t agree with him on that,? Ryan said after Tuesday morning?s walk-through. ?My job?s not just to make one player better and to feature one player. When I came here, I thought my job was to build the best defense we could possibly build. And I think when you look at statistically whether we were successful or not, I think it?s hard to argue that we weren?t successful.?

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http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/ryan-says-he-gave-gholston-a-chance/
 
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Magua;1976733; said:
Hate to say "I told you so" - but...

I think it's all mental with Vern these days. He seems like too sensitive of a guy in a harsh business. Physical ability is not the problem.
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I'd still take him for the Browns. He has too much ability and they are so thin at DE that he would have to be an upgrade over some of their backups.
 
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Gholston receives walking papers -- again
August, 29, 2011
By Rich Cimini

Former Jets draft bust Vernon Gholston was released Monday by the Bears, one week after Gholston told reporters after the Giants-Bears game that he didn't receive a fair shake from Rex Ryan.

That's laughable. Gholston has failed under three defensive-minded head coaches -- Eric Mangini, Ryan and Lovie Smith. He has failed in three different defensive systems. And he has failed at three different positions -- 3-4 OLB, 3-4 DE and 4-3 DE.

If Gholston had any shot of resurrecting his career (wait, can you resurrect something that never began in the first place?), it was with the Bears. There was no pressure, he finally was in the right system and he had one of the best line coaches in the business, Rod Marinelli, a super-intense coach who figured to have the best chance of lighting a fire under Gholston.
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http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/6740/gholston-receives-walking-papers-again
 
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buckeyebri;1976827; said:
pretty much saw this coming...I hope Vern keeps trying...they were talking about someone in one of the games this weekend who had been cut 10 times before finally sticking....
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James Harrison was on the practice squad for 2-3 years before he finally made the Steelers roster. How many other teams wish they had given him a shot now?
 
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