Santonio Holmes: Teammate Believes Jets Captain Has Played Final Game in NYC

The New York Jets still find a way to make the news even when they don’t have another game for eight months.

Receiver Santonio Holmes was inexplicably benched at the very end of the Jets' 19-13 season-ending loss to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, and it seems as if the rest of the team was just fine with the move.

Now it looks like they don’t want the offensive captain to return. Here’s what one Jets veteran told the New York Daily News: 

"I don’t see how he can come back."

When the player was asked if this was the majority opinion in the locker room, the player said yes.

Holmes has lost the respect of the locker room with his immature attitude and lack of respect shown to QB Mark Sanchez. According to the Daily News, he ignored Sanchez in the huddle on Sunday and was seen visibly pouting on the sidelines. He wasn’t even watching when the Jets were attempting one last comeback to save the season.

Do the Jets have to trade him? He is the most explosive offensive weapon by far on the team, and a bad offense would certainly be worse without him. The odds of that are unlikely. Too much money is still owed to a guy that signed a five-year, $45 million deal last offseason.

A smart move that coach Rex Ryan has already made is eliminating captains. Certainly Holmes would have been demoted if Ryan kept the ritual around.

The Jets are in a very sticky situation with Holmes right now, and they need a resolution sooner rather than later to make sure this doesn’t divide the entire locker room. They need to sit the receiver down and hammer home how much he is hurting his team and stop acting like a baby.

Holmes had only 51 catches with eight TDs for a career-low 654 yards. He was shut out in Miami for the first time in his career and only had one ball thrown his way.

He has lost the respect of the locker room and is going to swallow his pride and win it back. If not, Holmes will be a dead man walking in New York by next October.