So what EXACTLY is Gohlston's problem? Is he caught out of position? Cant shed blocks? Poor closing ability? Cant wrap and finish off ball carriers? Poor instincts? If someone can give me specifics about his defensive liabilities I would really appreciate it.
Lack of aggression. He plays with the mindset of a Labrador Retriever in a league full of Rotweilers. On top of that he's playing out of position at linebacker, when he clearly should be playing 4-3 defensive end. He's like Victor Hobson without the instincts and Victor Hobson WITH the instincts was a bad player.
IF this is the case, then HOW IN THE HECK did he wind up on EVERY mock draft as a bonafide first rounder?
mentally, he's just not there. he played DE in college, so he knows how to play with his hand on the ground. he doesn't know how to play in space... at all. he's very easy to confuse, gets caught out of position if there's any sort of misdirection whatsoever and is hesitant about everything he does. personally, i think the physical tools are there, but his head isn't there yet. the guy needs to spend the entire off-season studying the playbook and film, not for other people's tendencies, but just how he's supposed to line up, what his assignment is and how he's supposed to attack. i still believe he can be a good player, but he needs some serious mental training before his physical attributes come into play. unlike a lot of other posters, i actually think he puts in a good effort. but effort and physical gifts can only take you so far. the guy just needs to sit down and study.
Workout warrior, demonstrated incredible strength, speed, agility, and quickness during the combines. Then you look at the tape of him in college and you see a guy who was dominant as a DE at the college level. You hope that guys like Gholston can make the jump to NFL and apply their god given talents to a faster paced game. but sometimes guys take a lot longer to adapt and other guys never adapt. Sanchez has made adjustments to his game. Gholston has not. Could also be bad work habits. Guy doesn't study tape or spend the hours to make his game better?
he's got all the physical tools. he's tall enough, he's big enough, he's fast enough. the bad part is, he doesn't know how to use it effectively. he sort of knows how to play with his hand on the ground, but he's undersized for that. he doesn't know how to play standing up in space.
It's called the NFL Combine. He had great workouts and shot up the charts. Although to be fair, he was rated as a first rounder even before the combine. Probably had a lot to do with his sack totals and the fact that he beat Jake Long twice in the OSU-Michigan game.
Because he was being projected out of position, which usually gets somebody bumped up higher than they should be due to the idiocy of assuming that a good athlete can make that kind of transition when in fact most can't, because he played for Ohio State in a year when the defense was very, very good and he got a bunch of sacks for them, because all the questions that people had were about his state of mind and those kind of questions always get toned down more than they should because who the heck knows what anybody else is actually thinking. I'm a notorious skeptic in the draft and I still thought the Jets would have to suck it up and take him if he was sitting there on 6 as opposed to letting him drop to Belichik on the 7 and become another wrecking ball against us in that Pat's 3-4.
I have heard the folks on NFL Sirius Radio say they thought his football drills at the combines were terrible - his measurables were through the roof and he's built like Adonis. They said once a lineman put a hand on his hips, he just essentialy gave up on the play and he has yet to develop a counter move. He just looks like he's moving around so slowly, like he has no burst. Sure his 40 yard time was great, but his 10 yard time must leave a lot to be desired. The scouts are on record, after all their research they recommended Leodis Mcelvin. To me, yesterday's game was lost when Mangini took Gholston and ignored all his scouts. We are as strong as the weakest link, and our 2nd CB looked awfully, awfully weak.
I think too may of us forget the mental side of gholston. I personally don't think he cares. He has his money and now it doesn't really mater. He plays like he doesn't want to hit anybody. The fact is that yes his workout was phenomenal which helped him But still he did give Jake Long all he could handle twice. He hasn't shown any glimpse of that. The fact that he has no sacks through two years tells me he probably doesn't give a damn. That and the fact that anytime he plays special teams he is never around the ball carrier. If you look at Westerman he at least is running around getting to the ball carrrier on special teams, and giving a great effort. We overanalyze gholston, none of us interviewed him which is so underrated. We were all worried if he slipped to the pats at 7 what he could do for that team and how it would cause problems for the jets. Its a bad draft pick its done. At least it was mangini's pick and not the scouting department. The scouting department wanted leodis mckelvin. The scouting department is still here and mangini isn't
He's a phenomenal athlete but just not a good football player. He was able to get by in college because of his athleticism, but that won't cut it in the NFL. Is it really that hard to understand?
I know I'm a noob but.... I really HATE your avatar. that is all. edit: I mean this in the nicest way possible
Translated: "My funniest story was this time when I was dumb as a rock." Is there ANYTHING left in the plus-column for this guy??
