Delusional doesn't quite cut it when describing the garbage that came out of Vernon Gholston's mouth Monday night. The former New York Jet blamed Rex Ryan, coaching and scheme changes, and Ryan's apparent favoritism towards certain players, for Gholston's totally ineffectual three years with the New York Jets.
"I heard how he (Ryan) 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."
"Being a first-round pick, you would have hoped for more [of a chance]."
"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."
And perhaps funniest of all:
"Teams are always looking for talent, and to say I don't have talent is a far stretch," Gholston said. "It's all about getting a fair shot and time in the system. With the Jets, it was constant position change and coaching change. There was no stability. I never really had that with the Jets."
-All quotes via New York Post
Again, delusional doesn't cut it. Maybe insanity.
Gholston has no one except himself to blame for being a complete bust in the NFL. After being drafted with the sixth overall pick by the Jets in the 2008 draft out of Ohio State University, Gholston had every chance to showcase the "talent" he claims he has. How can he blame Ryan, when his rookie season was a total disaster under Eric Mangini? Are we supposed to believe that if Mangini stuck around with the Jets, Gholston would have become a valuable part of the Jets defense in years two and three?
The Ryan favoritism is equally as ridiculous. What about the likes of Mangini holdovers David Harris, Sione Pouha and Darrelle Revis? Did Ryan look to replace those guys with his Baltimore cronies? No, because they, unlike Gholston, are hard workers and good football players.
Rex Ryan isn't to blame for Gholston's zero career sacks. I think everybody aside from Gholston realizes that.