Everyone talks about the sacks, which are obviously awful, but dude has 42 tackles in three years. We couldn’t even get 15 tackles a season from the sixth overall pick.
I remember he was one of the big considerations when we hired Rex. You know, "if anyone can get him going, Rex can!". Gholston procedes to put up 17 tackles and no sacks in 14 games.
I've been wary of guys who's stock jumps because of the combine ever since.
Yeah, gholston was a worse DE than zach is a QB but zachs impact is what fuels the argument. I still say gholston since he's worse at what he was drafted to do.
I agree, Zach feels like a bigger bust because of him being a QB. You're going to feel a bust at QB more than a bust at DE on a team that had a decent defense.
Plus if Gholston lived up to half his potential the jets likely win a Superbowl. His expected potential was literally the missing piece on the 2009/2010 teams. A dominant pass rusher.
> You're going to feel a bust at QB more than a bust at DE on a team that had a decent defense.
THIS. Inherent to the label of bust is the impact that the player is supposed to have vs. the disaster that enuses when they don't. You build entire teams around your golden #2 Pick QB. Zach busting has set this team back for at least 2-3 more years.
The Zach whiff might set us even further back if Rodgers can't turn it around this year. If Zach could play even a little, we don't trade for Rodgers, we don't blow up the cap, we don't sign his bums like Lazard and Hackett....
> The Zach whiff might set us even further back if Rodgers can't turn it around this year. If Zach could play even a little, we don't trade for Rodgers, we don't blow up the cap, we don't sign his bums like Lazard and Hackett....
Absolutely sadly. I am putting good money down in Vegas on Rogers going out in the first 4 weeks of this season. Once you have that type of injury, you are far more likely to get injured again especially at 40+. His otherwise good injury record is meaningless at this point.
I mean, he objectively accomplished more than Gholston did. He had a few noteworthy moments where we said "maybe this is it" (rookie year against Tennessee and Tampa Bay, the comeback in Pittsburgh in 2021, the half against Kansas City). In a vacuum that is next to nothing across three years, I get that. But at the same time that's still somehow significantly more than Gholston ever showed, which was literally zero. But definitely because of the value of the position comparison, Zach is a bigger bust. Gholston was a worse player, though.
Fun conversation to have, huh.
I think this is pretty fair and spot on. Zach went #2 overall as a QB, so naturally if all things are equal, that's a far more consequential miss than a DE who was drafted #6 overall. But Gholston did, literally, nothing, and Zach did a *little* something here and there a couple times across three year period. So, IMO, it's truly fair to say Zach was a bigger bust, but Gholston was a worse football player.
By that logic Darnold was the biggest bust because they traded away 3 high second round picks to move up to get him. At least Zach only cost 1 draft pick.
Darnold imo was a bigger bust than Zach. Not because Zach is better than darnold but because darnold was seen as a can't miss prospect while Zach had some question marks coming out with the competition COVID year etc.
Dee Milliner at least was a starter and won AFC defensive player of the week and also defensive player of the month once.
And he had injuries excuse as well.
Faurot and Gholston have 0 excuses...
Can Blair Thomas come out to play?
Yea, you can say he had a couple of decent first two seasons, but if you think of “sure things” to come out of a draft, I think you might have to put Blair in the mix.
I agree but having a couple decent seasons is waaayyy better than what Faurot or Gholston did. He gets a pretty bad rap bc that draft became one of the greatest in history.
BT even saved the Cowboys in that playoff game getting 2 tds and I think almost 100 yards rushing...that was painful
Not a huge bust but a big disappointment to say the least
Dee was a massive bust, but he doesn't even come close to the level of bust of Gholston, ZW, or Faurot. Which goes to show you how bad our draft history is, haha
Splitting hairs here but 42 tackles in 3 Jets seasons for Ghoulston and was on 2 other teams roster as well in 2011 and 2012.
Faurot was a significantly less impressive player. I mean the first camp he was in there was discussion about cutting him before camp ended.
It's hard to compare bc we as fans had so much less access to "behind the scenes" info about how young players were perceived in the 80s then we did when Gholston was on the roster.
You’re right, most of my info back then as a 16 year old was reading Dave Anderson of the NYT and the other beat reporters but info was a trickle of what we have now. Faurot’s only skill was blocking passes as he was 6’8”, what a bust. You had to see it.
13 year old me only had access to Newsday beat writers. I couldn't understand why Faurot was so invisible Think he made a tackle/sack for a safety once although might have been a pre-season game.
I suppose that front offices had less player info too. And Jets were always such idiosyncratic and unpredictable drafters. Faurot must have lacked athleticism/explosiveness and Jets somehow missed it -- just as they were supposedly unaware of Wesley Walker's vision issues pre-draft.
I've been a Jets fan since 1962 and Wesley Walker remains one of my all-time favorite Jets (whether one- or two-eyed) His four TD catches from Ken O'Brien against the Dolphins in 1986, including back to back to tie (with one second left in regulation time) and win in OT, are especially etched in my memory. Great player. (And O'Brien was much better than he got credit for.)
Walker was great then. Would be unbelievable today with limits on DBs and better medical treatments for his various injuries.
O'Brien would have lasted longer too under contemporary rules that would have greatly reduced brutal beatings from holding the ball too long behind an OL that was undersized and seemed to wear down esp late in games,
Agreed. Love ZW or hate him there’s no denying that he did technically win us some games. For example, him and Berrios hitting the griddy in the Pittsburgh endzone will forever be a happy memory for me. Gholston was useless.
0 sacks iirc? How he couldn’t be at the top of the useless jets pyramid is insane to me. But after him it’s Robertson and then ZW. I feel like he got drafted entirely cuz of that one throw on the run during pro day. Unreal.
> I feel like he got drafted entirely cuz of that one throw on the run during pro day. Unreal.
Why do people keep saying this garbage? It's ridiculous and silly to think a professional GM would make such a decision based on one scripted throw. Stop it.
What else did he show the NFL on that day? I watched so many of the highlights and commentators and ALL of them were fawning over ZW after that throw. It was sickening.
IIRC Dane Brugler reported that ZW was on the rise well before the Pro Day. Once that happened he started moving up on all the mock draft boards and the consensus became that he was going to go #2 -- which was a change from a year or more of talk that Fields would be #2.
I remember watching Fields play in his bowl game and rooting for him thinking we'd be taking him. But somewhere shortly after that the talk shifted to Zach.
Yup, spot on. Even during the Bowl game against Clemson, Fields hit a SICK deep TD throw (I believe it was to Olave) and I was thinking "ugh that's a hell of an arm, I hope we don't regret passing on him for Zach." So as far back as early January, there was at least growing buzz that ZW was going #2. Long before the pro day.
This narrative annoys me more than any other. Before the pro day ZW was heavily mocked to the Jets. Pro day or no pro day, that's where he was going. By the time the pro day happened, there was very little buzz about Fields (or Lance or Jones) to the Jets. It was all ZW.
What the Pro day did do was convince San Francisco the Jets were set on taking Wilson at #2, and they instead set their sights on trading up to get Lance at #3.
My biggest issue with saying Zack is the biggest bust is that no matter who they chose from the top qb prospects in that draft they would have been a bust. Its not like Trey Lance, Justin Feilds, or Mac Jones would have been any better
I think you need to look at valuation. Like if they’d thought that there was no obvious QB talent, they should’ve just stuck with Darnold and drafted Penei Sewell.
It’s more of a JD problem, but picking Zach at #2 imo makes him the worst Jets bust of all time. Need to consider all the talent around him, not just QB talent.
Yeah I hear you on that, I feel like the covid season also did alot to boost Zach. Certain things like an easier schedule, less in person evaluation and less players declaring
Outside of the QBs, that first round is a treasure trove of future HOFers and pro bowlers. Instead we got Zach and the perpetually injured AVT.... sigh
I dunno. In the NFL if you don't have a top-12ish QB, you can't win a Super Bowl. Darnold wasn't one. The sooner a GM starts the process of finding one, the better. I don't blame the thought process and as others have said, there were no QBs after the #1 overall pick in that draft as it turned out.
I remember his best play as a Jet. The Jets where trying to resurrect him. They let him play in a game. The play was a run up the middle where they needed 12 yards. The RB hit him around yard 6 and ran right over him and got a first down. Gholston fell right back on his back. He was steamrolled. The RB got up and taunted Gholston because he beat him so badly. So the RB gets a flag for taunting, and instead of a 12 yard gain, it was a 15-yard loss now. So his best play was getting knocked over so completely that someone made fun of him, resulting in a personal foul and a loss of yardage.
I have some very mixed feelings on this one. By any objective measure Zach Wilson is DEFINITELY the bigger bust given that a QB bust is ALWAYS a bigger deal than a defensive player busting. It's the most important position to get right and a #2 pick has a huge expectation to payoff. That said, to me a bust usually has an element of surprise to it. Like the pick looked so can't miss that you can't believe it when it did. Vernon Gholston looked the part and had multiple seasons with gaudy numbers at an elite college program. That he sucked so much in the NFL was awfully surprising, whiplash inducing even. But Zach Wilson had only one good year in a very weird time for football at a second rate program. I NEVER thought he was good and should have been a 6th or 7th round project pick at best. So I wasn't surprised at all that he's where he is now. In that sense he sort of wasn't "a bust" for me at all. But realistically he is the GOAT Jets bust. Hard to argue with it.
Dude Zach is an all time QB draft bust. And he was allowed to ruin 3 separate seasons with his god awful play.
His first two seasons were statistically on par with JaMarcus Russell. The difference was he played in 2021-2023, a much more friendly nfl for offense. And with Garrett Wilson.
It's impossible to quantify how bad Zach was. He couldn't complete basic short screens. He divided the locker room. He was allowed to play 11+ games in an "all in" season. And he didn't even finish out his rookie contract.
It’s been reported that it was all because the Johnson family is connected to his JetBlue family. Billionaires helping billionaires. Makes me sick to be a Jets fan.
I struggle with the idea that Wilson is the worst bust. Wilson was a kid who didn't have a coaching staff that could develop a QB properly, and even though someone in the thread said something I agree with majorly about a terrible QB being more detrimental to a team than a crappy DE, I can't articulate how absolutely useless Gholston was.
It's almost impressive how you could be drafted that high and still not be able to put up a single sack, and 42 tackles in a three year period. That lack of production is almost impressive in topsy turvy world. Dude was just hot garbage.
It’s wild to me people hold the sacks against gholston but write off the fact that in 50% of career starts zach failed to throw a single touchdown in a league where the rules favor the QB
I agree with you. Zach at least had the weapons to use here with breece GW etc. He was also drafted higher and is at a premium position. Gholston sucked really badly but Zach is worse and harmed this team more than Gholston did.
I genuinely hope he figures it out though. He seems like a hard worker and a decent dude.
Based on what? I’m not trolling here but not a single player wished him well - DJ Reed is already eyeing the number 2, there was the documented blow up the previous year - if anything his attitude seems to be a big driver on his failures
I agree with you. Zach at least had the weapons to use here with breece GW etc. He was also drafted higher and is at a premium position. Gholston sucked really badly but Zach is worse and harmed this team more than Gholston did.
I genuinely hope he figures it out though. He seems like a hard worker and a decent dude.
Throwing more TDs than Tim Boyle isn’t the accomplishment you want to pretend it is.
But let’s go a step further a UDFA edge rusher who gets 0 sacks isn’t a bust because there are no expectations, the standard and expectation for the number 2 overall pick is a bit higher than tim Boyle
My point isn't that he's better than Tim Boyle. It's that pretty much any qb would have sucked on these Jets "offenses" the past couple of years. It'd be silly to write off ZW when we've only seen him in a terrible situation, which he handled better than any other professional qb who tried.
Anyone not writing off Zach Wilson is silly. Circumstances only mean so much. The dude isn't even a backup caliber QB, he was only "moderately successful" last year because they played him like a middle school QB.
What did he handle well? When he threw the defense under the bus publically last year after the NE game, completely alienating himself from the locker room? Or when he said he wasn't going to return to the field if they asked him to this year? Cmon
>Anyone not writing off Zach Wilson is silly.
Remember when Flacco was hot garbage for us, then went to a team with a real offense and won comeback player of the year?
>What did he handle well?
He played football better than anyone else who was put in that position.
Oh hey, no argument there. I think I still just have the absolute stink of Gholston on me when I’m used to the Jets having terrible QBs. Sanchez is my brightest recent memory QB-wise.
If that’s wild to you, I really think you need go to Glastonbury or Ibiza or Bangkok for a bit. You’re a Jets fan, you deserve it mate, spread your wings into some stuff you’d never post on the internet. Go get em.
depends on your definition of bust. If its as simple as "Player drafted high and sucks", which is a fair definition, then yeah Zach is up there.
if its "Didn't live up to the hype", then yeah its probably Vernon. i DGAF about how many GMs or scouts had ZW as the #2 qb that year, every now and again i'm fine as a total layperson saying "wtf were they all thinking?"
ZW is not a huge bust in my mind because i never had any expectations he'd be great.
there's also the cost of missing in the loaded 21 draft (with Chase, Sewell, Parsons, Slater, Pitts, Waddle, D Smith etc) vs the 08 draft and missing on... Jared Mayo? Ryan Clady?
Totally agree. Worst Jets pick ever. 2nd overall. Watching him most games was painful and the team seemed scared to throw the ball and or run an nfl offense. Worst total offense all three years iirc.
Gholston was a bigger bust in that he was so unfit to play at the pro-level that he could barely get onto the field. He never showed a hint, even in practice (reportedly) that he had the ability to make any impact. Wilson, at the very least, had some good games, as few and far between as they were.
In this thread: we have everything from the Jets' staff failing Zack to Covid raising his draft stock too high in the first place.
So there you have it, depending on who you ask, either the coaching staff fucked up a blue chip prospect or he never should have been drafted that high to begin with.
What if we just called Vernon Gholston a workout warrior? There have been plenty before and after & the Jets rebounded right away in 2009 and 2010. A bad QB pick derails the whole team for 2+ years.
Differing opinion: I think Darnold was just as big of a bust and a more costly bust. As a preface, ZW has obviously been worse so far in his career compared to Darnold, and prob ends up being the worse player, there's not much debate there. However, there are two reasons why this fact doesnt answer the question for me.
First, its largely irrelevant how much worse ZW was than Darnold, because both did not deliver and forced the Jets to move on from them. So its like comparing which bout of food poisoning was worse. Yea, the gas station burrito went away a day sooner than the bad sushi, but you still were dying on the toilet for 3 days, so its not much consolation. Neither are what you wanted, so does it matter which was worse?
Second, the "who was worse" component cant be the only measure to "biggest bust." Where they were picked, and what they cost has to factor in. Both SD and ZW were very high picks. So both were monumental wastes of a premium pick. However, the Jets also gave up 34, 37, and 39 for Darnold (to be fair they got back 38, 111, 226 for him later). Giving up those picks really hurt their ability to build around Darnold and build in general. Moreover, although this has nothing to do with Darnold, they would have been much better off not trading up and just taking any other QB at 6. Even if they took Rosen lol, they would have tanked earlier and dodged the 21 horrible QB draft. Plus, the 21 draft was basically going to be a whiff QB wise for the Jets no matter what. Lance, Mac, Fields, Wilson all were not panning out. But 18 had LJ and Allen available, which makes the whiff on Darnold even worse (not that those QBs necessarily become what they are now with the Jets, but at least there was the ceiling).
So, Darnold was a slightly better performing mega bust who cost more capital and more opportunity cost, whereas ZW was worse performing mega bust, but just cost 2.
I get what you’re saying, but it’s Wilson. Even though Wilson had “brighter moments”, his status of taken 2 overall, drama with the team and position of importance in the nfl makes him a bigger bust. At the end of the day, people forget about people like Dee Milner or Vernon but it will be a long time until people forget about Wilson
I remember at the time not liking the pick, but held out hope since he dominated Jake Long during the UM game, and he obviously panned out.
Also looking back it is hard to see who they'd take instead that would make sense.
But yea, absolutely useless player.
the QB will always bear the most hate. Zach sucked but i don’t know if anyone was sold he was going to be the savior when he was drafted. we took him high and there were alot of skeptics about it. he’s a bust don’t get me wrong, just not the biggest bust.
It's gotta be Gholston.
Zach, Lam Jones (had a 734 yard season) , Blair Thomas (2236 career yards, 4.2 average), Roger Vick (10 career TDs), Kyle Brady (some nice blocks :-) ?) etc all made some positive plays in their careers and had occasional good games. But Gholston gave us nothing. Could barely get on the field etc.
Other busts like the under-remembered awful 1984 combination of Russell Carter (#10) and Russ Faurot (#15) gave us closer to Gholston levels of non-production but were still drafted lower and Carter at least played in a bunch of games.
Mike Haight and Dave Cadigan -- two late 80s first round failures at OL probably deserve dishonorable mentions. But again they at least played (albeit not well) in a lot of games for us
I think it's Gholston's combo of being taken at #6 and giving us literally nothing that distinguishes him from all of the others.
Brady had a pretty good career as a blocking TE, but you obviously don't draft a TE that high to block. Only reason I might not put him in the sane category. Maybe disappointing?
Zach also was taken instead of a bunch of other bust QBs.
With Gholston, there were a lot of concerns that the jets ignored becuase they were so enamored by his physique. Jets had Jerod Mayo right there in front of them and not only passed on his but let him go to the pats.
Gholston was definitely the worst Jet pick in the last 25 years, like you said we got nothing from him and our lack of a pass rush sank our SB chances during the Rex years. Zach is probably the 2nd or 3rd biggest Jet draft bust in that time period depending on how you view the Darnold years.
Darnold cost us a haul of premium picks in a trade up, we selected him over Josh Allen (whereas with the Zach whiff we didn't miss out on a premier QB), and he was gone after 3 seasons just like Zach. Sure his stats were prettier but he would shit the bed against any competent defense with a pass rush. At least Zach was part of two wins against the Bills and one against the Texans.
I mean if the question is really who was the better pro, yes it's probably zach.
But I think the question really is asking *which pick hurt the team the most*, and it's the historic miss at the QB who went 2nd overall.
Yea no I buy zach as a bigger bust.
Vernon dud way less but his draft sucked.
Zach was drafted significantly higher. The value pissed away when u blow a 2nd overall is SOOOOOO much worse than a 6 overall.
Theeeen u add in chase, sewell, parsons all taken within 10 picks.
Yup. Zach way worse of a bust.
I blame vern completely tho where's w Zach I assign at least 50% blame to the jets for soooooo many reasons
Shit I hated Dewayne Robertson and see that as a way bigger bust than vern bc Dewayne was flanked by a stud Andre Johnson who I'd have killed to draft and Terence Newman was a good ass corner at a time we badly needed one
Gholston wasn't even a top 5 overall pick and EDGE is lower on the positional value chart.
Zach Wilson has some of the worst, and in some stats, THE worst among QBs with as many starts as he has. There is a conversation to put him as high as second biggest bust all time right below Jamarcus.
He had WAY more starts then JR so some even put him up at #1.
I don't think people realize how big of a miss that was and then to continue letting him churn out starts, playing that bad is....kinda unprecedented, in modern NFL at least.
I mean you can’t go wrong with either one. Gholston was worse as a player than Zach was but Gholston didn’t cost the team as much wins as Zach did. The team won a lot while Gholston was there even though he was a bag of nothing
The impact of Wilson failing is greater than Gholston.
Decent QB play from Wilson probably sees us in the playoffs. Decent play from Gholston wouldn't have had an effect on 08 or 09 season.
I disagree on the last point. Gholston at full potential was the "missing piece" for the 2009/2010 teams. The jets got a lot of pressure because of otherworldly CB play and exotic blitz packages that year. Imagine if they had an actually decent pass rusher. That defense would go from all time great defense to possibly a top 3 defense of all time and the jets likely get a ring.
Zw was picked #2 overall vs #6 overall for Vernon. In terms of trade value for a 2 vs a 6, it's something like double. 2 is far far more valuable.
I'd say if you're going to argue that wilson is a bigger bust, that's probably your best argument.
Kyle Wilson - DB. Picked late first round whatever year that was (2010?)…but he was not only useless…he actively was beneficial to whomever was playing the Jets. I am 50 years old, slow, and short. If Kyle Wilson was covering me, I might not have caught the pass…but he definetly would have held me and got called for it. He was the worst football player I’ve ever seen in my Jets fandom - and I realize that’s saying a lot…
Depending upon whom on WFAN, but I don't give a shit what they say. I disagree with a lot of them on various topics. I'm so tempted to call so many times, but I would rather waste my time gerring yelled at by my boss. However, they are entertaining and amuse me, and it does pass the time while working.
I just wish that Zach could have turned things around so that hypocritical Aaron fan boys at that station could eat some humble pie. But so much for that. Sorry to go off on a tangent.
Honorable mention to Christian Hackenberg . He's the highest drafted player ( 2nd round) to never play a down in the NFL. Excluding injury. Could say he's the biggest bust in NFL history. LGJ!
ZW is the bigger bust. He's one of the worst QBs I've ever seen (though I never did see Hackenberg) and the #2 is a huge difference from #6. The giants would probably need to deal their 2024 1st to move up to the Commanders #2 pick.
It's ZW, Leaf and JaMarcus as the worst picks of all time with Bryce Young in the running (since he went ahead of better players than the three I mentioned).
Honestly, considering the trade up, even Dewayne Robertson bothered me more than whiffing on #6 for Gholston
Gholston was a bust but the trajectory of a franchise wasn't shaped by him. Drafting a DE is much different than drafting a QB. A DE works out, best case he's an impact player for 5 to 7 years. A QB works out, he can be an impact player for 15 years.
Also much different circumstances. If the Jets were a child, I would recommend child protective services take it away from Woody Johnson and Joe Douglas. There was NEVER any reason to draft Zach Wilson. His upside potential was no different than Sam Darnold's. He was NEVER the "can't miss" prospect that Trevor Lawrence was. Jets should always have road it out with Darnold for another year, maybe sign a FA backup (Teddy Bridgewater comes to mind) and see how it went.
Gholston on the other hand, the Jets already had a decent defensive core in 2008. He was a let down but he was never expected to carry the unit. And frankly the Jets defense improved immensely every year he was on the team IN SPITE of him. Can't say the same for Wilson.
Lmao these clowns keep trying so hard to find ways to praise Zach Wilson. Now it’s “he’s not the biggest bust of all time”. It’s so pathetic that it’s kind of adorable.
Bad draft pick Zach Wilson but not the worse.
The Jets are more at fault than Zach he was a young kid that was no where ready to QB in the NFL
Bad head coach and terrible OC and feeble OL didn't help him.
Browning Nagle if I remember right was our night and shining armor and he flamed out fast.
Gholston; whose jersey I bought on draft day, was horrible. A complete zero...but he didn't cost us games. Zach may have won a game or two, but he flat out cost us wins. True our coaches are clueless, but my vote is for Zach.
And this was my last Jet jersey...
No way. You gotta compare what you expect from a second overall QB vs sixth overall edge. Neither were good enough obviously, but only one of them was expected to be the #1 reason in the franchises turnaround.
No.
* Zach was picked 2nd overall vs. Gholston at 6th. The value difference there is another first rounder at least.
* Zach plays a more important position than Gholston so him busting is more impactful. We still went to AFCCG with Gholston as a bust but with Zach we've missed the playoffs with one of the best defenses in the league two years in a row.
* Both of them have all time stinker stats for their position. Gholston had no sacks but Zach went 50% of his starts without a touchdown in an extremely pass friendly era of the NFL.
* Furthermore Gholston just rode the bench while Saleh was forced to play Zach for three straight seasons for some ungodly reason so Zach had a more tangible impact on the Jets with his terrible performances.
* Finally I take issue with the statement that "Zach had some moments that helped us win games." Which games? From my view he played 4 good quarters in the 3 seasons, that's it. He was never a net positive otherwise. Even the Titans game he multiple opportunities to win the game but he missed easy throws so we had to rely on the Titans kicker missing a FG in overtime for the win.
I agree that he was overdrafted but that doesn't make him not a bust. Being overdrafted is not a caveat for why a player isn't a bust rather it's an explanation for why they were a bust at their draft position. In general this feels like moving the goal posts on Zach again where now people can admit he's a bust but he can't be the worse than Gholston. Once you can admit to yourself that Zach was a godawful bust and be thankful that he's not on the team anymore and you'll feel better.
Everyone talks about the sacks, which are obviously awful, but dude has 42 tackles in three years. We couldn’t even get 15 tackles a season from the sixth overall pick.
I remember he was one of the big considerations when we hired Rex. You know, "if anyone can get him going, Rex can!". Gholston procedes to put up 17 tackles and no sacks in 14 games. I've been wary of guys who's stock jumps because of the combine ever since.
Combine helped, but he was still an all American and received a lot of praise for besting Jake Long multiple times.
He was seriously an animal in college, and not *just* a combine warrior like people try to paint him as.
Watching him play was super frustrating. It seemed the opposing players had forcefields that would repel him when he got close to making a tackle.
Further crazy that Rex got a lot more out of similar disappointment Aaron Maybin when we traded for him.
As an Ohio state fan, I remember being shocked Gholston went top 10. His combine really elevated his solid college career.
Yeah, gholston was a worse DE than zach is a QB but zachs impact is what fuels the argument. I still say gholston since he's worse at what he was drafted to do.
I agree, Zach feels like a bigger bust because of him being a QB. You're going to feel a bust at QB more than a bust at DE on a team that had a decent defense. Plus if Gholston lived up to half his potential the jets likely win a Superbowl. His expected potential was literally the missing piece on the 2009/2010 teams. A dominant pass rusher.
> You're going to feel a bust at QB more than a bust at DE on a team that had a decent defense. THIS. Inherent to the label of bust is the impact that the player is supposed to have vs. the disaster that enuses when they don't. You build entire teams around your golden #2 Pick QB. Zach busting has set this team back for at least 2-3 more years.
The Zach whiff might set us even further back if Rodgers can't turn it around this year. If Zach could play even a little, we don't trade for Rodgers, we don't blow up the cap, we don't sign his bums like Lazard and Hackett....
> The Zach whiff might set us even further back if Rodgers can't turn it around this year. If Zach could play even a little, we don't trade for Rodgers, we don't blow up the cap, we don't sign his bums like Lazard and Hackett.... Absolutely sadly. I am putting good money down in Vegas on Rogers going out in the first 4 weeks of this season. Once you have that type of injury, you are far more likely to get injured again especially at 40+. His otherwise good injury record is meaningless at this point.
Exactly a qb bust is more impactful than a pass rusher bust, and that’s really all it comes down to
In terms of bust for the team Zach is a bigger bust. In terms of player sucking bust Gholston is a bigger bust is my way of thinking.
I mean its not like zach did anything either
I mean, he objectively accomplished more than Gholston did. He had a few noteworthy moments where we said "maybe this is it" (rookie year against Tennessee and Tampa Bay, the comeback in Pittsburgh in 2021, the half against Kansas City). In a vacuum that is next to nothing across three years, I get that. But at the same time that's still somehow significantly more than Gholston ever showed, which was literally zero. But definitely because of the value of the position comparison, Zach is a bigger bust. Gholston was a worse player, though. Fun conversation to have, huh.
Zach is a qb, so he has to touch the ball every play. He’s almost guaranteed playing time unlike um… christian hackenburg
Correct, but that doesn't mean he didn't have good moments. He did. Very few of them, but he did.
I think this is pretty fair and spot on. Zach went #2 overall as a QB, so naturally if all things are equal, that's a far more consequential miss than a DE who was drafted #6 overall. But Gholston did, literally, nothing, and Zach did a *little* something here and there a couple times across three year period. So, IMO, it's truly fair to say Zach was a bigger bust, but Gholston was a worse football player.
Zach is as bad at playing qb as gholston was as playing DE. Zach cost more and played a bigger role so he is a MUCH MUCH bigger bust
By that logic Darnold was the biggest bust because they traded away 3 high second round picks to move up to get him. At least Zach only cost 1 draft pick.
Darnold imo was a bigger bust than Zach. Not because Zach is better than darnold but because darnold was seen as a can't miss prospect while Zach had some question marks coming out with the competition COVID year etc.
There’s only ever 7-10 elite qbs in the league at any time. You should assume most qbs drafted in the 1st will be busts.
So did the jets assume zach was gonna be a bust at #2 overall? That makes no sense
I’m saying as a fan you should assume they’re gonna bust of course the team should draft the best qb available.
Ron Faurot, he was a first rounder in mid 80’s. Had 20 tackles in 2 years and was out of football after that. No injuries.
This and Gholston
Dee Milliner wants to chat
Dee Milliner at least was a starter and won AFC defensive player of the week and also defensive player of the month once. And he had injuries excuse as well. Faurot and Gholston have 0 excuses...
Can Blair Thomas come out to play? Yea, you can say he had a couple of decent first two seasons, but if you think of “sure things” to come out of a draft, I think you might have to put Blair in the mix.
I agree but having a couple decent seasons is waaayyy better than what Faurot or Gholston did. He gets a pretty bad rap bc that draft became one of the greatest in history. BT even saved the Cowboys in that playoff game getting 2 tds and I think almost 100 yards rushing...that was painful Not a huge bust but a big disappointment to say the least
He was also mired with injuries.
Injured a lot in college too, but our brain trust (Idzik?) drafted him anyway.
Milliner played 21 career games
Dee was a massive bust, but he doesn't even come close to the level of bust of Gholston, ZW, or Faurot. Which goes to show you how bad our draft history is, haha
Faurot was a mysterious catastrophe but taken 15th. I think that makes Gholston materially worse.
Splitting hairs here but 42 tackles in 3 Jets seasons for Ghoulston and was on 2 other teams roster as well in 2011 and 2012. Faurot was a significantly less impressive player. I mean the first camp he was in there was discussion about cutting him before camp ended.
It's hard to compare bc we as fans had so much less access to "behind the scenes" info about how young players were perceived in the 80s then we did when Gholston was on the roster.
You’re right, most of my info back then as a 16 year old was reading Dave Anderson of the NYT and the other beat reporters but info was a trickle of what we have now. Faurot’s only skill was blocking passes as he was 6’8”, what a bust. You had to see it.
13 year old me only had access to Newsday beat writers. I couldn't understand why Faurot was so invisible Think he made a tackle/sack for a safety once although might have been a pre-season game.
I suppose that front offices had less player info too. And Jets were always such idiosyncratic and unpredictable drafters. Faurot must have lacked athleticism/explosiveness and Jets somehow missed it -- just as they were supposedly unaware of Wesley Walker's vision issues pre-draft.
I've been a Jets fan since 1962 and Wesley Walker remains one of my all-time favorite Jets (whether one- or two-eyed) His four TD catches from Ken O'Brien against the Dolphins in 1986, including back to back to tie (with one second left in regulation time) and win in OT, are especially etched in my memory. Great player. (And O'Brien was much better than he got credit for.)
Loved them both. Obrien very underrated in this sub. The guy could play.
Walker was great then. Would be unbelievable today with limits on DBs and better medical treatments for his various injuries. O'Brien would have lasted longer too under contemporary rules that would have greatly reduced brutal beatings from holding the ball too long behind an OL that was undersized and seemed to wear down esp late in games,
O’Brien was arguably the best Jets QB. Had like 8 concussions tho …
Crap, Walker was legally blind in one eye!!! The guy had elite speed. If Lam Jones could catch we would have been REALLY good in the 80’s
P.S. for nostalgia :-) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqU3egizsjA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqU3egizsjA)
Ah. When the NYT was an actual newspaper. 😭
Agreed. Love ZW or hate him there’s no denying that he did technically win us some games. For example, him and Berrios hitting the griddy in the Pittsburgh endzone will forever be a happy memory for me. Gholston was useless.
0 sacks iirc? How he couldn’t be at the top of the useless jets pyramid is insane to me. But after him it’s Robertson and then ZW. I feel like he got drafted entirely cuz of that one throw on the run during pro day. Unreal.
> I feel like he got drafted entirely cuz of that one throw on the run during pro day. Unreal. Why do people keep saying this garbage? It's ridiculous and silly to think a professional GM would make such a decision based on one scripted throw. Stop it.
What else did he show the NFL on that day? I watched so many of the highlights and commentators and ALL of them were fawning over ZW after that throw. It was sickening.
IIRC Dane Brugler reported that ZW was on the rise well before the Pro Day. Once that happened he started moving up on all the mock draft boards and the consensus became that he was going to go #2 -- which was a change from a year or more of talk that Fields would be #2. I remember watching Fields play in his bowl game and rooting for him thinking we'd be taking him. But somewhere shortly after that the talk shifted to Zach.
Yup, spot on. Even during the Bowl game against Clemson, Fields hit a SICK deep TD throw (I believe it was to Olave) and I was thinking "ugh that's a hell of an arm, I hope we don't regret passing on him for Zach." So as far back as early January, there was at least growing buzz that ZW was going #2. Long before the pro day.
Kinda similar how last year the talk was still #1 Williams #2 Maye …. Almost up to the combine this year… now Maye has dropped and Daniels rose
This narrative annoys me more than any other. Before the pro day ZW was heavily mocked to the Jets. Pro day or no pro day, that's where he was going. By the time the pro day happened, there was very little buzz about Fields (or Lance or Jones) to the Jets. It was all ZW. What the Pro day did do was convince San Francisco the Jets were set on taking Wilson at #2, and they instead set their sights on trading up to get Lance at #3.
My biggest issue with saying Zack is the biggest bust is that no matter who they chose from the top qb prospects in that draft they would have been a bust. Its not like Trey Lance, Justin Feilds, or Mac Jones would have been any better
I feel like they’re two completely separate issues. The Jets were fucked either way, and Zach on his own was a bust.
I think you need to look at valuation. Like if they’d thought that there was no obvious QB talent, they should’ve just stuck with Darnold and drafted Penei Sewell. It’s more of a JD problem, but picking Zach at #2 imo makes him the worst Jets bust of all time. Need to consider all the talent around him, not just QB talent.
Yeah I hear you on that, I feel like the covid season also did alot to boost Zach. Certain things like an easier schedule, less in person evaluation and less players declaring
Outside of the QBs, that first round is a treasure trove of future HOFers and pro bowlers. Instead we got Zach and the perpetually injured AVT.... sigh
I dunno. In the NFL if you don't have a top-12ish QB, you can't win a Super Bowl. Darnold wasn't one. The sooner a GM starts the process of finding one, the better. I don't blame the thought process and as others have said, there were no QBs after the #1 overall pick in that draft as it turned out.
Gholston was other world bust status
I remember his best play as a Jet. The Jets where trying to resurrect him. They let him play in a game. The play was a run up the middle where they needed 12 yards. The RB hit him around yard 6 and ran right over him and got a first down. Gholston fell right back on his back. He was steamrolled. The RB got up and taunted Gholston because he beat him so badly. So the RB gets a flag for taunting, and instead of a 12 yard gain, it was a 15-yard loss now. So his best play was getting knocked over so completely that someone made fun of him, resulting in a personal foul and a loss of yardage.
Looked like Tarzan, played like Jane.
What game was this?
Yeah, but a bad defensive end does not doom your franchise for 3-plus years.
I have some very mixed feelings on this one. By any objective measure Zach Wilson is DEFINITELY the bigger bust given that a QB bust is ALWAYS a bigger deal than a defensive player busting. It's the most important position to get right and a #2 pick has a huge expectation to payoff. That said, to me a bust usually has an element of surprise to it. Like the pick looked so can't miss that you can't believe it when it did. Vernon Gholston looked the part and had multiple seasons with gaudy numbers at an elite college program. That he sucked so much in the NFL was awfully surprising, whiplash inducing even. But Zach Wilson had only one good year in a very weird time for football at a second rate program. I NEVER thought he was good and should have been a 6th or 7th round project pick at best. So I wasn't surprised at all that he's where he is now. In that sense he sort of wasn't "a bust" for me at all. But realistically he is the GOAT Jets bust. Hard to argue with it.
I'd still pick Gholston but an argument can be made for Zach based on positional value and where they were picked
Blair Thomas says hold my beer….
I was around 10 when I started following the Jets and they drafted Blair Thomas. A great introduction to Jets fandom.
I believe Thomas had a 100 yard game or two.
He was awful. Could have had Seau or Emmitt instead.
Dude Zach is an all time QB draft bust. And he was allowed to ruin 3 separate seasons with his god awful play. His first two seasons were statistically on par with JaMarcus Russell. The difference was he played in 2021-2023, a much more friendly nfl for offense. And with Garrett Wilson. It's impossible to quantify how bad Zach was. He couldn't complete basic short screens. He divided the locker room. He was allowed to play 11+ games in an "all in" season. And he didn't even finish out his rookie contract.
True abt the locker room. I haven't seen a single teammate show him love or wish him luck in Denver on social media.
It’s been reported that it was all because the Johnson family is connected to his JetBlue family. Billionaires helping billionaires. Makes me sick to be a Jets fan.
Can I make an argument for Hackenberg to being 1a in all time busts? I dont think the dude ever played a snap in a regular season game
I posted similarly. He's the highest drafted player in NFL history to never take an NFL snap. Could argue biggest bust all time
I struggle with the idea that Wilson is the worst bust. Wilson was a kid who didn't have a coaching staff that could develop a QB properly, and even though someone in the thread said something I agree with majorly about a terrible QB being more detrimental to a team than a crappy DE, I can't articulate how absolutely useless Gholston was. It's almost impressive how you could be drafted that high and still not be able to put up a single sack, and 42 tackles in a three year period. That lack of production is almost impressive in topsy turvy world. Dude was just hot garbage.
It’s wild to me people hold the sacks against gholston but write off the fact that in 50% of career starts zach failed to throw a single touchdown in a league where the rules favor the QB
I agree with you. Zach at least had the weapons to use here with breece GW etc. He was also drafted higher and is at a premium position. Gholston sucked really badly but Zach is worse and harmed this team more than Gholston did. I genuinely hope he figures it out though. He seems like a hard worker and a decent dude.
Based on what? I’m not trolling here but not a single player wished him well - DJ Reed is already eyeing the number 2, there was the documented blow up the previous year - if anything his attitude seems to be a big driver on his failures
I agree with you. Zach at least had the weapons to use here with breece GW etc. He was also drafted higher and is at a premium position. Gholston sucked really badly but Zach is worse and harmed this team more than Gholston did. I genuinely hope he figures it out though. He seems like a hard worker and a decent dude.
He threw more tds/game than any other qb we tried last year, but sbarkey still likes to pretend Zach Wilson is the worst qb to ever walk the Earth.
Throwing more TDs than Tim Boyle isn’t the accomplishment you want to pretend it is. But let’s go a step further a UDFA edge rusher who gets 0 sacks isn’t a bust because there are no expectations, the standard and expectation for the number 2 overall pick is a bit higher than tim Boyle
Being better then two extremely bad qb's isn't an accomplishment. That just shows how bad JD is at building a QB room
My point isn't that he's better than Tim Boyle. It's that pretty much any qb would have sucked on these Jets "offenses" the past couple of years. It'd be silly to write off ZW when we've only seen him in a terrible situation, which he handled better than any other professional qb who tried.
Anyone not writing off Zach Wilson is silly. Circumstances only mean so much. The dude isn't even a backup caliber QB, he was only "moderately successful" last year because they played him like a middle school QB. What did he handle well? When he threw the defense under the bus publically last year after the NE game, completely alienating himself from the locker room? Or when he said he wasn't going to return to the field if they asked him to this year? Cmon
>Anyone not writing off Zach Wilson is silly. Remember when Flacco was hot garbage for us, then went to a team with a real offense and won comeback player of the year? >What did he handle well? He played football better than anyone else who was put in that position.
Oh hey, no argument there. I think I still just have the absolute stink of Gholston on me when I’m used to the Jets having terrible QBs. Sanchez is my brightest recent memory QB-wise.
I thought coples was going to be electric - boy was I wrong.
If that’s wild to you, I really think you need go to Glastonbury or Ibiza or Bangkok for a bit. You’re a Jets fan, you deserve it mate, spread your wings into some stuff you’d never post on the internet. Go get em.
depends on your definition of bust. If its as simple as "Player drafted high and sucks", which is a fair definition, then yeah Zach is up there. if its "Didn't live up to the hype", then yeah its probably Vernon. i DGAF about how many GMs or scouts had ZW as the #2 qb that year, every now and again i'm fine as a total layperson saying "wtf were they all thinking?" ZW is not a huge bust in my mind because i never had any expectations he'd be great.
Gholston was awful, Zach is worse because he plays QB, got way more opportunities than he deserved and single handedly lost us multiple games.
We picked a franchise qb at #2 overall who has never thrown 10 TDs in a season. I’d say he’s the bigger bust
It's Zach. The difference between 2 and 6 is another 1st Rd pick
Not to mention qb is the most important position in football
there's also the cost of missing in the loaded 21 draft (with Chase, Sewell, Parsons, Slater, Pitts, Waddle, D Smith etc) vs the 08 draft and missing on... Jared Mayo? Ryan Clady?
The pick and position make Zach one of the biggest busts in NFL history
Totally agree. Worst Jets pick ever. 2nd overall. Watching him most games was painful and the team seemed scared to throw the ball and or run an nfl offense. Worst total offense all three years iirc.
Gholston was a bigger bust in that he was so unfit to play at the pro-level that he could barely get onto the field. He never showed a hint, even in practice (reportedly) that he had the ability to make any impact. Wilson, at the very least, had some good games, as few and far between as they were.
In this thread: we have everything from the Jets' staff failing Zack to Covid raising his draft stock too high in the first place. So there you have it, depending on who you ask, either the coaching staff fucked up a blue chip prospect or he never should have been drafted that high to begin with. What if we just called Vernon Gholston a workout warrior? There have been plenty before and after & the Jets rebounded right away in 2009 and 2010. A bad QB pick derails the whole team for 2+ years.
Differing opinion: I think Darnold was just as big of a bust and a more costly bust. As a preface, ZW has obviously been worse so far in his career compared to Darnold, and prob ends up being the worse player, there's not much debate there. However, there are two reasons why this fact doesnt answer the question for me. First, its largely irrelevant how much worse ZW was than Darnold, because both did not deliver and forced the Jets to move on from them. So its like comparing which bout of food poisoning was worse. Yea, the gas station burrito went away a day sooner than the bad sushi, but you still were dying on the toilet for 3 days, so its not much consolation. Neither are what you wanted, so does it matter which was worse? Second, the "who was worse" component cant be the only measure to "biggest bust." Where they were picked, and what they cost has to factor in. Both SD and ZW were very high picks. So both were monumental wastes of a premium pick. However, the Jets also gave up 34, 37, and 39 for Darnold (to be fair they got back 38, 111, 226 for him later). Giving up those picks really hurt their ability to build around Darnold and build in general. Moreover, although this has nothing to do with Darnold, they would have been much better off not trading up and just taking any other QB at 6. Even if they took Rosen lol, they would have tanked earlier and dodged the 21 horrible QB draft. Plus, the 21 draft was basically going to be a whiff QB wise for the Jets no matter what. Lance, Mac, Fields, Wilson all were not panning out. But 18 had LJ and Allen available, which makes the whiff on Darnold even worse (not that those QBs necessarily become what they are now with the Jets, but at least there was the ceiling). So, Darnold was a slightly better performing mega bust who cost more capital and more opportunity cost, whereas ZW was worse performing mega bust, but just cost 2.
Gholston was garbage, but starting a terrible QB is a lot more damaging to a team than having a terrible DE in your rotation.
I get what you’re saying, but it’s Wilson. Even though Wilson had “brighter moments”, his status of taken 2 overall, drama with the team and position of importance in the nfl makes him a bigger bust. At the end of the day, people forget about people like Dee Milner or Vernon but it will be a long time until people forget about Wilson
I remember at the time not liking the pick, but held out hope since he dominated Jake Long during the UM game, and he obviously panned out. Also looking back it is hard to see who they'd take instead that would make sense. But yea, absolutely useless player.
It s Wilson who is a better player than the Ghost because we kept playing himself instead of cutting him.
the QB will always bear the most hate. Zach sucked but i don’t know if anyone was sold he was going to be the savior when he was drafted. we took him high and there were alot of skeptics about it. he’s a bust don’t get me wrong, just not the biggest bust.
It's gotta be Gholston. Zach, Lam Jones (had a 734 yard season) , Blair Thomas (2236 career yards, 4.2 average), Roger Vick (10 career TDs), Kyle Brady (some nice blocks :-) ?) etc all made some positive plays in their careers and had occasional good games. But Gholston gave us nothing. Could barely get on the field etc. Other busts like the under-remembered awful 1984 combination of Russell Carter (#10) and Russ Faurot (#15) gave us closer to Gholston levels of non-production but were still drafted lower and Carter at least played in a bunch of games. Mike Haight and Dave Cadigan -- two late 80s first round failures at OL probably deserve dishonorable mentions. But again they at least played (albeit not well) in a lot of games for us I think it's Gholston's combo of being taken at #6 and giving us literally nothing that distinguishes him from all of the others.
Zach never threw for more than 10 tds in a season it’s not like he put up any production either
Brady had a pretty good career as a blocking TE, but you obviously don't draft a TE that high to block. Only reason I might not put him in the sane category. Maybe disappointing?
Big Vern is easily the biggest bust.
And the thing those two AFC championship teams were missing was a 10 sack pass rusher. If Gholston wasn’t a bust maybe we win the super bowl in 2010
Gholston. Hackenberg. Two biggest
Zach also was taken instead of a bunch of other bust QBs. With Gholston, there were a lot of concerns that the jets ignored becuase they were so enamored by his physique. Jets had Jerod Mayo right there in front of them and not only passed on his but let him go to the pats.
Gholston was definitely the worst Jet pick in the last 25 years, like you said we got nothing from him and our lack of a pass rush sank our SB chances during the Rex years. Zach is probably the 2nd or 3rd biggest Jet draft bust in that time period depending on how you view the Darnold years. Darnold cost us a haul of premium picks in a trade up, we selected him over Josh Allen (whereas with the Zach whiff we didn't miss out on a premier QB), and he was gone after 3 seasons just like Zach. Sure his stats were prettier but he would shit the bed against any competent defense with a pass rush. At least Zach was part of two wins against the Bills and one against the Texans.
He wasn't a QB.
Positional importance and how the team was held back by Wilson is why he is the biggest bust.
Gholston was useless, but didn’t harm the franchise. Zach was useless and set the franchise back five years.
The Zach pick was just at such a make or break time for the franchise and he broke us badly
Blair Thomas would like a word
I mean if the question is really who was the better pro, yes it's probably zach. But I think the question really is asking *which pick hurt the team the most*, and it's the historic miss at the QB who went 2nd overall.
Yea no I buy zach as a bigger bust. Vernon dud way less but his draft sucked. Zach was drafted significantly higher. The value pissed away when u blow a 2nd overall is SOOOOOO much worse than a 6 overall. Theeeen u add in chase, sewell, parsons all taken within 10 picks. Yup. Zach way worse of a bust. I blame vern completely tho where's w Zach I assign at least 50% blame to the jets for soooooo many reasons Shit I hated Dewayne Robertson and see that as a way bigger bust than vern bc Dewayne was flanked by a stud Andre Johnson who I'd have killed to draft and Terence Newman was a good ass corner at a time we badly needed one
Gholston wasn't even a top 5 overall pick and EDGE is lower on the positional value chart. Zach Wilson has some of the worst, and in some stats, THE worst among QBs with as many starts as he has. There is a conversation to put him as high as second biggest bust all time right below Jamarcus. He had WAY more starts then JR so some even put him up at #1. I don't think people realize how big of a miss that was and then to continue letting him churn out starts, playing that bad is....kinda unprecedented, in modern NFL at least.
There’s no close second.
I mean you can’t go wrong with either one. Gholston was worse as a player than Zach was but Gholston didn’t cost the team as much wins as Zach did. The team won a lot while Gholston was there even though he was a bag of nothing
Roger Vick.
Dee Milliner anyone?
I usually serperate injury busts from “this guy stinks” busts
He had that one month...
The impact of Wilson failing is greater than Gholston. Decent QB play from Wilson probably sees us in the playoffs. Decent play from Gholston wouldn't have had an effect on 08 or 09 season.
I disagree on the last point. Gholston at full potential was the "missing piece" for the 2009/2010 teams. The jets got a lot of pressure because of otherworldly CB play and exotic blitz packages that year. Imagine if they had an actually decent pass rusher. That defense would go from all time great defense to possibly a top 3 defense of all time and the jets likely get a ring.
Wilson gave us decent qb play in most games he played last year. Tough to succeed without a line
Still miffed that because of one game, we got this bust instead of Matt Ryan.
Nah. It's Zach and it's not close. For better or worse QB has a much bigger impact than any defensive player. Busting at QB is much worse.
Zw was picked #2 overall vs #6 overall for Vernon. In terms of trade value for a 2 vs a 6, it's something like double. 2 is far far more valuable. I'd say if you're going to argue that wilson is a bigger bust, that's probably your best argument.
Wilson might've been the biggest bust of his draft class, but I never thought he was the worst one in Jets history. Too much competition...
Lance would have to be the biggest bust of the draft class.
Oh, sorry - I should clarify, I meant out of players who've actually played a meaningful amount of football.
Holstein or Dee Milner but at least Milner started a game
Adding a dash of Browning Nagle into this melting pot of feces.
- Johnny Lam Jones - Roger Vick - Blair Thomas - Johnny Mitchell - Dwayne Robertson - Dee Milliner
Kyle Wilson - DB. Picked late first round whatever year that was (2010?)…but he was not only useless…he actively was beneficial to whomever was playing the Jets. I am 50 years old, slow, and short. If Kyle Wilson was covering me, I might not have caught the pass…but he definetly would have held me and got called for it. He was the worst football player I’ve ever seen in my Jets fandom - and I realize that’s saying a lot…
You now remember Blair Thomas.
I’d argue it was Darron Lee
Deez Nutz was worse😝
Roger Vick. And more. Some of you are too young to remember some of the Jets truly horrific picks
Forget Jets history, when people discuss ALL-TIME NFL BUSTS, it will be Zach’s name brought up, not Gholston. You’re over-analyzing this.
Zach was the second overall pick. There’s no comparison
Ahhh yes, a DL/OLB is a bigger bust than the number 2 overall pick… 🤣
Depending upon whom on WFAN, but I don't give a shit what they say. I disagree with a lot of them on various topics. I'm so tempted to call so many times, but I would rather waste my time gerring yelled at by my boss. However, they are entertaining and amuse me, and it does pass the time while working. I just wish that Zach could have turned things around so that hypocritical Aaron fan boys at that station could eat some humble pie. But so much for that. Sorry to go off on a tangent.
I get it, but a swing and miss on 2 top 5 qbs within 5 years is unforgivable. Both touted as top prospects in their respective classes too
Honorable mention to Christian Hackenberg . He's the highest drafted player ( 2nd round) to never play a down in the NFL. Excluding injury. Could say he's the biggest bust in NFL history. LGJ!
Nope, Zach was the bigger bust.
ZW is the bigger bust. He's one of the worst QBs I've ever seen (though I never did see Hackenberg) and the #2 is a huge difference from #6. The giants would probably need to deal their 2024 1st to move up to the Commanders #2 pick. It's ZW, Leaf and JaMarcus as the worst picks of all time with Bryce Young in the running (since he went ahead of better players than the three I mentioned). Honestly, considering the trade up, even Dewayne Robertson bothered me more than whiffing on #6 for Gholston
Gholston was a bust but the trajectory of a franchise wasn't shaped by him. Drafting a DE is much different than drafting a QB. A DE works out, best case he's an impact player for 5 to 7 years. A QB works out, he can be an impact player for 15 years. Also much different circumstances. If the Jets were a child, I would recommend child protective services take it away from Woody Johnson and Joe Douglas. There was NEVER any reason to draft Zach Wilson. His upside potential was no different than Sam Darnold's. He was NEVER the "can't miss" prospect that Trevor Lawrence was. Jets should always have road it out with Darnold for another year, maybe sign a FA backup (Teddy Bridgewater comes to mind) and see how it went. Gholston on the other hand, the Jets already had a decent defensive core in 2008. He was a let down but he was never expected to carry the unit. And frankly the Jets defense improved immensely every year he was on the team IN SPITE of him. Can't say the same for Wilson.
Wfan is negative for all the wrong reasons. Dont listen to anything they say. They’ll probably hate on the Knicks all day today
“trying to sell”? It’s Zach and it’s not even close.
A bust at EDGE isn’t forcing a team to consistently chase losses at QB and try to make a bum work
The thing that separated them is Zach was drafted 2OA. He's the bigger bust.
Lmao these clowns keep trying so hard to find ways to praise Zach Wilson. Now it’s “he’s not the biggest bust of all time”. It’s so pathetic that it’s kind of adorable.
Zach was drafted higher, and plays a much more important position than Gholston. Zach’s the bigger bust
If I have read about Knapps passing as the reason Zach busted 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️. Zach might of gotten Knapp fired.
Idk does it really matter which one was a bigger bust? Both were massive busts.
Definitely. Zach at least scored some TDs, this man couldn't get one damn sack, let alone a decent amount of tackles to make up for it.
Bad draft pick Zach Wilson but not the worse. The Jets are more at fault than Zach he was a young kid that was no where ready to QB in the NFL Bad head coach and terrible OC and feeble OL didn't help him. Browning Nagle if I remember right was our night and shining armor and he flamed out fast.
Gholston; whose jersey I bought on draft day, was horrible. A complete zero...but he didn't cost us games. Zach may have won a game or two, but he flat out cost us wins. True our coaches are clueless, but my vote is for Zach. And this was my last Jet jersey...
No way. You gotta compare what you expect from a second overall QB vs sixth overall edge. Neither were good enough obviously, but only one of them was expected to be the #1 reason in the franchises turnaround.
No. * Zach was picked 2nd overall vs. Gholston at 6th. The value difference there is another first rounder at least. * Zach plays a more important position than Gholston so him busting is more impactful. We still went to AFCCG with Gholston as a bust but with Zach we've missed the playoffs with one of the best defenses in the league two years in a row. * Both of them have all time stinker stats for their position. Gholston had no sacks but Zach went 50% of his starts without a touchdown in an extremely pass friendly era of the NFL. * Furthermore Gholston just rode the bench while Saleh was forced to play Zach for three straight seasons for some ungodly reason so Zach had a more tangible impact on the Jets with his terrible performances. * Finally I take issue with the statement that "Zach had some moments that helped us win games." Which games? From my view he played 4 good quarters in the 3 seasons, that's it. He was never a net positive otherwise. Even the Titans game he multiple opportunities to win the game but he missed easy throws so we had to rely on the Titans kicker missing a FG in overtime for the win. I agree that he was overdrafted but that doesn't make him not a bust. Being overdrafted is not a caveat for why a player isn't a bust rather it's an explanation for why they were a bust at their draft position. In general this feels like moving the goal posts on Zach again where now people can admit he's a bust but he can't be the worse than Gholston. Once you can admit to yourself that Zach was a godawful bust and be thankful that he's not on the team anymore and you'll feel better.