I'm not one for rating drafts before the players even suit up, or even before 3 years have gone by,let alone the day the draft ends. However, I can't believe how some teams are praised no matter what and other (the Jets) are criticized no matter what. Let's just take the first round. The Jets' Gholston pick is being panned by some "experts." Now I couldn't care less what some of these people (Prisco, Mayock, Myers etc.) say. But what were the Jets really suppossed to do? They criticize the pick and say Gholston is a work out warrior and not a player, but ignore that the guy had 14 sacks and 18 tackles for losses playing for one of the best teams in the country against a top flight college schedule. Plus it fills a huge need, especially when you consider how the Giants beat the Pats. And I saw some mocks with Gholston going as high as 1st and never lower than 6th. Then the Pats get screwed because they wanted Gholston at 7 and probably Harvey at 10 (and if they picked Gholston these same experts would be calling him the next LT and Harvey would be the next McGinnest), trade down and then reach for Mayo at 10. Everything I saw about Mayo called him a late 1st or early 2nd rounder who was rising up the chart because of , get this, work outs!!!! And the Pats are praised because for this pick by these same experts!!! The Pats could pick Pee Wee Herman in the first round and these experts would say what a great move by these geniuses. Yet they ignore that the Pats have not drafted well recently while the Jets have. It just pisses me off.
I think the Pats draft was overrated this year. I haven't seen a rating yet, but I'm sure it will be. I posted this on NFLDC.
Well personally i think the love for the Patriots for the Kevin O'Connel pick says it all, they can do no wrong.... They clearly have no need for a QB yet they take one in round 3 (who likely wouldnt have other wise been drafted until round 5 when the QB run ensued) and everybody was on board praising the Pats for picking this kid. EXCEPT Jamie Dukes. Now I think for the most part Dukes is an idiot, he has some knowledge, but really isnt all that special. But he was the only one I saw on NFLN or ESPN criticising the Pats pick (granted I did not watch a lot of ESPN today, but i did watch for about 5 mins after the Oconnel pick because I wanted to see what they said) Dukes kept arguing against that pick right up until pick #236, when they started talking about the Jets, and he went after Gholston's "lack of motor" his concern was definately legit. So for me that is a major worry, and I actually agree with Dukes on both points.... P.S. it is my stance the O'Connel pick will contribute to the GPC!
Well , if Gholston has no motor is a combine creation and not a football player, how did he sack the QB 14 times and make 18 tackles behind the line for losses?? And I don't really care if he takes a few plays off. The Jets sorely need a playmaker on defense - a player who will pressure the QB and force TO's and sacks. Ellis has taken entire season's off, as has BT. If Gholston gets 5 or more sacks, the pick will be worth it. If he get's 10 or more, I'll do cartwheels.
Good post, Joe Willie, but I think the reason is simple. These guys want to look smart next year when everyone looks to see how their predictions panned out. If you predict a player on the Pats will be good, you're likely to be right. And if you predict a player on the Jets to be bad, you're likely to be right. A lot has to do with the supporting cast. Luckily these guys have no impact on the people that matter, like Tannenbaum and Mangini. Hopefully the two of them will get us to a point where people will reflexively praise our picks just cuz it's us.
it makes me fuckin' crazy how a guy is talked up for weeks, before the draft, then we pick him and all the negative bullshit flows from all the so called "experts". most of us have wanted gholston, or dmc. so we at least got what we wanted in that pick. as far as the rest of our picks are concerned, i'm not thrilled.
I don't really care what people think at this point because it is irrelevant, but my hatred of the Pats makes the unending praise they receive even when it appears they screwed up hard to take.
All of those draft experts criticizing our pick of Gholston are harping on him for being athletic and talented, but unmotivated. They forget (or don't care) about a couple of coaches. We have a linebackers coach from the University of Michigan who I'm sure will be all over Gholston. We saw how fired up Gholston was in that Michigan game. I'm sure Herrmann can use that. We also have Bryan Cox. If anyone can light a fire under a defender's ass and get him to play, it's that guy.
One announcer said it best. he said that the reason Gholston took some plays off, was because he got bored.
I liked Mangini's response to the "Gholston takes plays off" nonsense. Perhaps there were times when he wasnt making jawbreaking plays, but even than, he was disrupting blocking schemes and doing the little things. I find it ludicrious that people can criticize a guy w/ arguably the best triangle numbers for an OLB EVER...who also has the single season sack record at a school like Ohio State. Who was the predecessor by the way? ESPN's precious Mike Vrabel.
I think when he takes a play off he is going to be faster and stronger the next play. That may explain how he got his 14 sacks and 18 tackles for a loss. I think that is smart. The opposing offense is not going to know when he will take a play off and they still have to account for him on every play.
Part of Gholston's critcism for a "lack of motor" is that he struggled w/ his quickness off the snap when he had his hand in the dirt. When he stood up, or played a 5 technique..which he will here...he flew all around the field and was frankly a sight to be had.
I think alot of the perception of Gholston from these "experts" has to do with his personality. He is soft spoken, and very reserved. He is the anti Ray Lewis as far as personality. With that being said, I wanted to tell you guys something. And I'm going to somewhat contradict my first statement, but anyway, I live in South Jersey and am friendly with a family member of Terry Bradway. I called him on Friday, and asked him who the Jets were looking at in the draft, what he knew etc. He was really hesitant to give me much information, but he said that they really liked McFadden. I asked him if that was just a smoke screen and he said he didn't think so. I asked him if they were going to take Matt Ryan if he was on the board, and he said "well that would be interesting". I guess they suspected that Ryan wouldn't be there, and like I said he wasn't very forthcoming with the information. The one thing he did tell me was that Bradway did not like Vernon Gholston, and thought he was a weighlifter that did not really love football. I was actually gonna post it before the draft, and I thought that I would get hammered if we picked Gholston. So I wonder how much clout Bradway holds in that building anymore, cause they still picked him.
this is how bad our pics were: if we had not taken Gholsten, the afc champs would have taken him with the next pic. if we had not taken Keller, the nfc champs would have taken him wiht the next pic. good night.
And because we picked them, they were both bad picks.:breakdance: Why is Gholston being called a workout warrior? I realize his combine was terrific.. but he was projected to us long before the combine. In fact, it was only after the combine that DMC was projected to us, because Gholston went from being a 6th pick, to a possible 1st pick. As far as I'm concerned, we made the perfect pick at 6. And to the point that He took games and plays off.. the biggest example was how he never ran up field after RBs.. well it was already reported from Jim Tressel's mouth that his players were trained that way.
