NFL Rumors: Jets Must Cut Santonio Holmes and Ignore Peyton Manning

The New York Jets are going about their offseason all wrong.

Owner Woody Johnson told Jenny Vrentas of the New Jersey Star-Ledger that Santonio Holmes will in fact be a member of the New York Jets for 2012 season.

One of the offensive captains of the team, Holmes became a huge distraction in the locker room as the year progressed. He was/is not a fan of QB Mark Sanchez and wasn’t trying to hide it. His antics caused the coaching staff to bench him on the most critical drive of the season in Week 17 against the Miami Dolphins.

Yet, when you ask Johnson, there’s nothing to see here:

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They've won a lot of games together, and one is good for the other. Santonio makes the quarterback a lot better, and vice versa. So they have a good reason to iron this thing out. I think they can do it. I have a lot of confidence in Mark Sanchez.

"

Clearly, Johnson is being blinded by the speed of Holmes and is not remembering that he got the receiver for only a fifth-round pick from the Pittsburgh Steelers after he won Super Bowl MVP. Pittsburgh knew how bad of a teammate he was and wanted to see him leave, regardless of what they could get in return.

If Holmes is back, there is going to be a major overhaul in the locker room.

How can that be accomplished? Bring in Peyton Manning, of course! Johnson certainly didn’t extinguish the thought that No 18 could suit up for the Jets in 2012:

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I'm not going to ever tell you guys what we may or may not do. Our job and my job is to, for the fans, take this team to the very top level. I've said that from the beginning, and I have a lot of confidence we can do it. So we're going to look at everything, we're going to look at every possibility, and that's what you want us to do.

"

This is the guy that took a flyer on Brett Favre in 2008, so don’t doubt him. While that may sound dandy on paper, it’s not what the Jets need.

If they bring in Manning and give Sanchez the boot out of town, in a way, Holmes is rewarded for his pouting. It would send a horrific message to the locker room, and I doubt a lot of the player’s would appreciate it.

In conclusion, the Jets need to seriously think about trading or cutting Holmes to show the rest of the locker room that pouting and undermining your quarterback is unacceptable. They also need to stop teasing fans with the possibilities of signing Manning.

Who knows how his neck will hold up and if he can even play another down in the NFL. It would also destroy three years of progress with a QB in Sanchez that already has four playoff wins on the road…including one against Manning!

It’s going to be a very interesting offseason for the Jets, but it doesn’t sound like the owner is currently thinking straight.