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 with the Jets — 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.”
Though Gholston is struggling just as mightily with the Bears as he did as a Jet, he isn’t worried he is running out of chances in the NFL.
“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.”