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DE Vernon Gholston (Official Thread)

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Russ Lande
Draft Dish: Film reviews hurt DE Gholston
Posted: April 13, 2008

There has been great media buzz about the value of Ohio State defensive end/outside linebacker Vernon Gholston shooting up draft boards after his great individual workout, but when it comes to teams meeting and settling on their final rankings, he is not as high as many would expect.

The NFL teams focused primarily on game film evaluation have become disappointed with Gholston's inconsistent production in college. He doesn't show the necessary first-step explosiveness to consistently come hard on the edge pass rush, shows little variety with his moves and has clearly shown up as neither competing nor playing his hardest on every snap.

So while Gholston's stock is tapering off a bit, another pass-rushing defensive end, Clemson's Phillip Merling, is benefiting by teams closely studying film, on which Merling shows up as a more complete player.

Merling also is short on first-step explosiveness to get around the corner, but unlike Gholston, he has an expansive repertoire of pass-rush moves, which he combines well with his hands, strength and leverage to consistently beat offensive tackles and pressure quarterbacks. In addition, there is no question that Merling plays with real passion and intensity on every snap.

It's still likely that Gholston gets drafted ahead of Merling in the first round, it's no longer a sure thing. When the discussion gets to Gholston, it has brought up memories of Mike Mamula -- as a workout star who has been greatly overvalued as a football player.
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He doesn't show the necessary first-step explosiveness to consistently come hard on the edge pass rush
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Dipshit says what?

God, it's amazing listening to these "scouts" talk about how overrated Gholston is. If he managed 14 sacks with little effort, then how in the hell did they come to the conclusion he's overrated? :smash:
 
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National Football League - CBSSports.com
sportsline.com said:
How good is Gholston? Just ask Michigan's Long

So now it's Michigan's Jake Long who has the Miami Dolphins' interest, and it's easy to see why. He's a premier left tackle who was beaten for one sack his senior season.

That's right, one.

And the guy who beat him? Well, he's on the Dolphins' radar, too. That would be Ohio State defensive end Vernon Gholston, and I can't think of another prospect who climbed NFL Draft boards more quickly since the end of the season.

Once Gholston was a first-round pick. Then he was a top 10 choice. Now, he's a possible top five pick, with Miami not out of the question.

Contd...
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Todd McShay and Mel Kiper were on Mike and Mike in the Morning discussing the NFL Draft. They talked a bit about Vernon. Mel seemed pretty high on him but McShay really dislikes him. He said he's too stiff and disappears to often. His latest mock draft has him dropping all the way to Baltimore at #8.
 
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OregonBuckeye;1140326; said:
Todd McShay and Mel Kiper were on Mike and Mike in the Morning discussing the NFL Draft. They talked a bit about Vernon. Mel seemed pretty high on him but McShay really dislikes him. He said he's too stiff and disappears to often. His latest mock draft has him dropping all the way to Baltimore at #8.
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McShay's pathetic. Gholston may go #1 overally, but certainly won't drop any further than the Jets (who know that the Pats would take him with the next pick if he fell that far).
 
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OregonBuckeye;1140326; said:
Todd McShay and Mel Kiper were on Mike and Mike in the Morning discussing the NFL Draft. They talked a bit about Vernon. Mel seemed pretty high on him but McShay really dislikes him. He said he's too stiff and disappears to often. His latest mock draft has him dropping all the way to Baltimore at #8.
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McShay works for ESPN, they don't like OSU. :)

McShay also has Matt Ryan as the second highest-rated QB since the '05 draft.
 
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OregonBuckeye;1140326; said:
Todd McShay and Mel Kiper were on Mike and Mike in the Morning discussing the NFL Draft. They talked a bit about Vernon. Mel seemed pretty high on him but McShay really dislikes him. He said he's too stiff and disappears to often. His latest mock draft has him dropping all the way to Baltimore at #8.
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I think a lot of this stuff is just made up for the purpose of creating a discussion. I really don't believe that they review all the tape they claim to and/or even attend all the tryouts. If they agreed on everything there would be nothing to debate and you wouldn't need one of them. They are more interested in ratings than accuracy. Think about it, if they were actually the ultimate expert on who to draft some NFL team would pay them really big bucks as their director of player personnel (i.e. do their drafting).
 
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BayBuck;1140415; said:
You mean like McShay's SEVEN mock drafts so far?
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Yeah, if he was any good you would think he would get it right the 1st time. :biggrin:
It isn't like that much changes in the week or so between mock drafts. The teams have the same needs and the players can't actually change too much. Keep in mind ESPN stands for "Entertainment and Sports Programming Network" and McShay is part of the "entertaimnment" rather than actual "sports".
 
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To add a bit to the last several posts. I am regularily a listener to Pat Kerwin(former Jets GM) on Serius NFL network, and highly respect his opinions. PK is in daily contact with many current GM's and seems to have his fingers on the pulse of the league. At no time have I heard that there is a thought on Vern dropping. Yesterday there was discussion at length about Miami's pick. Parcells has stated privately that they have offered a contract to Jake Long to go no. 1, with a limited window of acceptance. If that window closes, Big Vern is next in line. PK felt that Vern would benefit by accepting. It was speculated that Long could want to play hardball, as he likely will fall no lower than no. 2 to the rams. To complicate matters, both Vern and jake Long have the same agent( Tom Condon). PK said that if his agent instructed Vern to also rebuff the Dolphins, that Vern should require Condon to make up the difference in contract money from No. 1 to where he is actually drafted, should VG go in the 4-6-7 range.

I also heard Jake Long give a 15 minute interview on the nfl network a few weeks ago. Long had nothing but glowing things to say about big Vern. He said that last year Vern really worked him with his brute strength, and actually physically shocked him with his initial punch. So this year Jake said he concentrated on setting his base to counteract Vern's tremendous strength, and instead got beat with speed and quickness. Long was also complimentary to Derrick Harvey as a speed rusher, but didn't put him in Vern's league. I guess all three of them had been working out together in AZ. Long said Vern is an absolute freak of nature.
 
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