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New Jersey – The Santonio Holmes four-year saga is a teachable moment for the Jets’ organization.
The Father Flanagan mindset has to stop.
What do I mean by this?
Stop thinking you can turn people around.
This is the NFL, not the Dr. Phil Show.
The Jets need to stop thinking they are smarter than other teams.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the finest organizations in sports, winners of six Super Bowls.
Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert and the Rooney Family had reached their wits end with Holmes.
How often do teams trade a Super Bowl MVP, in his prime, to another team, in their conference, for a fifth round pick? No often.
And I hear they would have cut him in they didn’t get a pick.
They were tired of his moodiness. Day-to-day, hour-to-hour, you don’t know the “Tone” you were going to be dealing with, due to his mood swings.
They were tired of his blown assignments. They lost a game to the Cincinnati Bengals late in Santonio’s stay in Pittsburgh, due to a Pick Six where the receiver ran to the wrong spot.
And you know what, it’s hard for a leopard to change his spots.
And nothing changed with the Jets.
As one former Jets employee described his moodiness, “He’s like Jekyll and Hyde.”
And with the Jets, there were blown assignments as well.
Also with the Jets, there were the constant battles with the media that put the organization in tough spots. He also ticked off teammates (and opponents) with comments about the team’s offensive line after a Baltimore game (Brandon Moore was livid and called him out in a team meeting), and insulting the Carolina Panthers secondary this past season.
This was just a bad situation the last four seasons, and probably should have ended last year, but the Jets didn’t want to eat the money.
And hate to beat up Mike Tannenbaum because lost his job, but the contract he gave Holmes in 2011 was ill-conceived.
Bidding against themselves, the Jets gave Holmes $24.5 million in guaranteed money.
That was such a mistake.
If you thought he was hard to deal with before, what would he be like after you gave him $24.5 million in guaranteed coin?
Almost impossible to deal with.
Rex Ryan even resorted to naming him a captain, in attempt to change his attitude and that didn’t work out very well.
Ryan then got rid of the permanent captain concept, so he wouldn’t embarrass Holmes, by taking the captaincy away from him. That was appeasement.
This is a teachable moment for the Jets.
No more Father Flanagan.
Sign and draft good players with their heads on straight.
Don’t try to change people.
Two teams have now told him to hit the road because of his attitude.
I’ve said it before. I feel bad for Holmes.
He was scarred deeply by a very tough childhood in the Belle Glade ghetto.
I don’t think he’s ever gotten over it.
Perhaps he needs to get some help. Sit down with somebody.
But with that being said, what is going on with this man is beyond the pay grade of NFL coaches and GM’s to fix.
And big money and appeasement weren’t going to change the man.
March 11, 2014
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