Rex Ryan's players are very loyal to him. When reading his comments about Vernon Gholston, it is easy to see why.

"I think Vernon improved," Ryan said. "Last year, I thought he gained strides. Unfortunately, I never knew this when we picked up Trevor and he played well for us, but that took a little away from Vernon. We had Shaun Ellis, so it was kind of hard to get [Gholston] more reps.

"But the guy is an excellent teammate. He did what was asked and he got better."

....

"Well, then I failed as far as the numbers go," Ryan said. "But I thought he got better, though. We'll see what happens to him. He's not done playing.

I do not think a coach would ever be terribly critical of a failed project in public, but we don't even get a, "Things didn't work out here." Rex compliments Gholston.

We all know the pick was a complete failure, but it is nice to see the coach take the high road.