Many fans across Jets nation are waking up to some good news this morning. Yes it's true – Mike Tannenbaum the trade king himself has done it again. Santonio Holmes is now a New York Jet. The trade news broke late last night. The Jets have acquired the Superbowl MVP in exchange for their fifth-round pick in this year’s draft….and two water coolers.
This is a great move by the Jets. I’ve been a huge fan of Santonio since he entered the league in 2006. The 26 year old former first-round draft pick, has 3,835 receiving yards since entering the league 4 years ago. The guy’s a playmaker period.
While most Jets fans couldn’t be more happy about this trade, the haters from the “teams in blue” started coming out of the woodwork quickly spewing their jealous hate.
Congratulations to Giants and Patriots fans for passing elementary mathematics. Yes you are correct: 16 – 4 = 12. The notion that an organization would stay away from stealing a player like Holmes simply because of a pending four-game suspension is ludicrous.
The Jets have a decent receiving corps without Holmes. They made it to the AFC Championship game without him. This four game suspension will not make or break this deal. It’s a win-win situation really; the Jets have had far worse “busts” over the years. This low-risk, high-reward move by Tannenbaum is one of the best this off-season by far.
Some say Holmes is the next Ricky Williams of the NFL? I hardly think so. He violated the substance abuse policy, that’s all. The domestic violence charges from 2006 were dropped. The latest “glass” incident is a mess of a case and charges have yet to be filed. It’s your typical gold digger making an accusation to make some quick money.
Spare me.
Up until this month, Santonio Holmes was not a name thrown into the mix as one of the “bad guys” in the NFL. I could name players on one hand that have had more serious off-field “issues” than he has. I’ve been quick to say that I don’t want players who are cancers to the team on the Jets. In my eyes, albeit no angel, Santonio Holmes is not one of them.
I’ll take Holmes’ harmless stupidity any day of the week. He’s an angel compared to Brandon Marshall. No training camp hissy fits, no DUI, no multiple arrests for domestic disputes, no altercations leading to a murder. He’s no Randy “I’ll play when I want to” Moss, or Chad “I punched my coach” Johnson. They exemplify the type of players you should worry about.
Drug use is Holmes’ crime of choice, the same situation our beloved Shaun Ellis was in not too long ago.
Some Steelers fans are mourning their loss by the famous “his off-field issues were a distraction to the team” excuse. Yes, his distractions hurt the team so badly that he ended up making one of the greatest catches in SuperBowl history. If the Steelers were worried about distractions they should look at their very own starting QB. Now that’s what I call a distraction.
The Steelers didn’t let go of Holmes because of a four game suspension. They aren’t making a statement about what they stand for. History has shown that Dan Rooney is all about football and nothing else. Did he allow Jerome Bettis to walk after being accused of forcing a girl to perform sexual acts? Nope, he extended his contract. Did he fire Bill Cowher after his alleged affair with his secretary? Nope, he extended his contract too.
Be happy Jets fans and be prepared to defend all the hate. It’s been a long time since teams considered the Jets as a threat, so embrace it and get ready for one hell of a season to come!
