Will Gholston Still Feels Fresh After A Decade In NFL
March 24th, 2022
Bucs DL Will Gholston
Playing in the NFL is a brutal business. The snaps and the hits build up. Too quickly.
Joe remembers hearing Jerome Bettis say towards the end of his career, it would be Wednesday after a Sunday game before he was able to sleep in his own bed. He would sleep on the couch downstairs on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings because his body was so sore and beat up from a game, he couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs to his bedroom.
Gholston must have good genes or good training. Or both. Because today, Gholston said he doesn’t feel beat up like older NFL veterans do.
Gholston has played 10 NFL seasons. Pretty damn good for a fourth-round pick. So he is closer to the end than he is the beginning. But that end shouldn’t come for a while, he said, because he doesn’t yet feel the wear and tear of a decade of NFL football punishment.
“It has been 10 years, but I don’t feel like it in my body,” Gholston said. “I listen to some guys who have played 10 years, some older vets, some guys who retired. I don’t feel like the way they said they felt.
“I think that is a blessing. [Play until] the wheels fall off, basically.”
Joe knows when Ndamukong Suh came to the Bucs, you could see that Suh took Gholston under his wing. The two are tight. You can tell just by watching how they interact at practice. Perhaps Gholston has picked up on some of Suh’s training habits. That guy is extraordinary the way he has never missed a start due to an injury and Suh was drafted in 2010 and is 35.
Players have taken advantage of the rivers of cash flowing through the NFL to retire earlier and save wear and tear on their bodies. Years ago, guys had to play longer (and suffer more punishment) to get the same cash. Ali Marpet is a perfect example of a guy who walked away early, in part to preserve his body, but he collected enough cash to be comfortable and happy for life.
The way Gholston feels, that physical punishment has yet to be a concern.
While Gholston signed just a one-year deal, he sounds as if he wants to retire a Buc. He plans to live in Tampa long-term as he said it is a great community to raise a family and admitted uprooting his family to play somewhere else is not ideal.
March 24th, 2022 at 1:44 pm
He’s just built different, him and his brother. They were freakish athletes coming into the NFL
March 24th, 2022 at 2:08 pm
Glue guy for sure !
Team guy all the way!
If only more players had his outlook
Solid dude !
March 24th, 2022 at 2:09 pm
That’s great to hear.
March 24th, 2022 at 2:13 pm
It is nice to see these good men being happy to live in this community.
March 24th, 2022 at 2:35 pm
Will’s long been one of my favorite Bucs. Reminds me a lot of Mike Alstott in his love for the game AND for the Bucs.
March 24th, 2022 at 2:38 pm
He’s come a long way and earned his spot
March 24th, 2022 at 4:20 pm
You’d be hard put to find any Buc fan who didn’t like Gholston……there was a short period where his pay was exceeding his production…..but that’s not the case at all now….
Having him back keeps us from having to draft a replacement because we don’t have one on the team…
March 24th, 2022 at 4:43 pm
Dare say, ROH type player?
March 24th, 2022 at 4:43 pm
What a solid dude. While a totally different player, he reminds me of Greg Spires. Never got the accolades that Sapp or Sim or Booger got but always got the job done and was vital to the Bucs playoff teams of the 2000s.
March 24th, 2022 at 4:54 pm
Will is the umbrella under your car seat.
You know you have it. You kind of forget that it’s there. But then it pours and you’re all like “Thank God I have that umbrella.”
March 24th, 2022 at 9:24 pm
Grinder!! So glad he signed back up with us
March 24th, 2022 at 10:06 pm
He has really paid his dues. So glad he got a ring and is getting paid.
March 24th, 2022 at 10:46 pm
Walter,
Will is Vernon’s cousin, not brother 🤡