I don't blame Cotch. From the moment he got his opportunity all the Jets tried to do was replace him. He kept proving he was more than capable as a number 1 receiver. They brought in Braylon and Holmes and made Cotch the number 3. Then after they failed to resign Braylon. They didn't feel that Cotch could be a viable number 2 receiver, so they brought in Plaxico. He got frustrated and wanted out. IMO you can't hold that against him. If you're at a job and for years you prove yourself as being capable yet your bosses keep jerking you around, it doesn't make you a "quitter" for leaving that situation.
While I have not given up on taking a reasonable position on Holmes, it is clear to me that too large a percentage of the fanbase has an irrational and unreasonable hatred of him. I have yet to see a single piece of valid evidence that he is viewed as a bad teammate. Or as a bad influence on the younger players. Nothing. Yet time and time and time again posters post that crap as if it is proven and beyond dispute. Yet they have nothing. Sounds irrational and unreasonable to me. I could guess what it is. I could note that he in my opinion with complete justification got frustrated playing with a poor Qb. He wants to win. So many Sanchez Fans hate him (but not all, of course). I could note that although he is very well spoken and has been used many times as a speaker in the post game show, during which his answers on substance are on point. Yet he also has real friction in his direct dealings with the press. I tend to take his side in those disputes, but also recognize the press in reaction disseminates many bad stories about him, spreading rumors and such, which his haters among hte fanbase are all to ready to pick up on, even those who otherwise reflexively dispute the press. His recent injuries concededly are not helping him, though, and at this point I really don't know if he will return to his top form, so there's that. Still, if he can be brought back at a reasonable number, the Jets should do that.
I agree with everything you said except bringing him back. Holmes is done. If we can sign 2 receivers and get a guy in the draft to go along with Kerley and Nelson I think we should be fine.
Nice spin, but no. He quit. My job is not like the NFL, comparisons like that don't wash. And while Cotch had some really really good years, he was never a Number 1 receiver type. Solid 2, possession guy, but no, not a number 1. IMHO. _
You haven't seen any because there isn't any. By all accounts he's a good teammate and actually has taken to helping out a lot of the younger recievers on the team. Folks here hate the fact that he got all that money, plain and simple. Him chugging that bottle of Cristal still sticks in some folks craws. Get over it--all these guys make outrageous money. Whether he "dogs" it is in the eye of the beholder but WRs are notorious as the most diva-like in all of football. Not everyone can be Jeter, some guys are Robinson Cano. _
It's not a spin. This is a job, and he didn't want to be there. He had a valid reason to leave. I'm not saying that he's a true number 1 receiver, but he produced. And it was absurd by Tanny to bring in Plaxico and have him be ahead of Cotchery. A receiving corp of Holmes and Cotch as the 1 and 2 with Kerley and Plax would've been a solid receiving corp that year IMO.
I'm not arguing that Cotch didn't have legit reasons in his mind to want out--but lets not continue to paint him as a saint--he did it because he wanted touches in a contract year--not because they were constantly trying to get rid of him. They were trying to add receivers where we were bereft of them. If Cotch stays, who's to say he doesn't have a good year and get that contrat he and his wife wanted. Depth charts change, Holmes had a history of injury and Plax had just shot himself. End of the day--he begged off the team. You can't continue to trot out the facade that he was a team-first guy--not then. He was a "me-first" guy. _
You may be on to something with the money thing. I don't know, but you may be right. For example, ask the general question which wideouts have been really popular on the Jets? Well Edwards had many supporters, me being one of them up to a point. And many noticed he played better than he had in Cleveland, with not a big contract. That is admirable, to be sure. But it doesnt' follow that you in turn should hate someone like Holmes who got the big contract. Right now maybe I am having a memory issue, but I have a hard time remembering there being a really popular wideout on the Jets since Chrebet. Even Edwards had his detractors. As you know many did count themselves fans of Cotchery, but partly for the reasons you allude to that is much less so today. At the time I did not count myself a huge fan of his because I didn't really think he was an above average performer. Chrebet was kind of sui generis if you think about it. Local guy. Small so that appealed to some. Took a licking and came back again and again (well, maybe he should have stopped there before he did, in hindsight, but at the time...) And there were other things. Clutch third down. Took insults from Keyshawn and endured. Other things. You'd have to go back I think to Wesley Walker to find a Jet receiver who was generally loved and a top performer at the same time. That says something. Maybe it is something not only about the way wideouts behave, but the nature of the position itself. Although real fans know better, most probably perceive the wide receiver as a position of the most pure physicality. Masybe that is harder to relate to for most people.
This is a business so of course money is the underlining reason. However bringing in a guy fresh out of jail and having him above you in the depth chart is enough to want to get the fuck out.
Like I said--depth charts change. If he was the receiver everyone is crowing about here--you know BETTER than Holmes--he'd be atop that depth chart by week 3. He wanted out not because he was frustrated, he wanted out because it was going to impact his contract year. How many times have I heard naive folks here squak about how they THINK a player should THINK it is much more important to win than individual stats and money. That winning will somehow bring more money than stats. LOL. If Cotch were truly a team player then he would have stayed and made us a winner. He left so he could inflate his stats and get his last big payday. _
I can't comment on anyone but my own reasons...I don't care what kind of teammate he is or who he mentors. If he's laying up 1,100 yds and 10 TD's a year who gives flying leap. The problem is...he isn't. Not even close. For that reason alone, along WITH the injury issues, I say $10 bucks a game. If he doesn't want to take it then he can walk the plank.
Actually, I do not hate him. What I do not like...not hate...but do not like...is the lack of production. I didn't like the way he handled last offseason/training camp...or at least the way it was portrayed in the media. Now, I understand that could be out of context or wonky but it's all I have to go on. When we got Holmes I expected a #1 guy who would make others around him better. So far, I haven't seen much of that. That's all I'm saying.
Did you not watch the 2011 Miami game? Did you not see LT call him out on live TV? Let's throw the football to the other team post injury. Willis Mcgahee had one of the more disgusting injures I have ever seen. He didn't fumble or throw the ball to the other team. What a great teammate, he's such a great teammate that when your down 27-10 or whatever when he scores a TD in garbage time he taunts everyone. GREAT TEAMMATE Look at that blind homerism for Holmes. Maybe we need to start coming up with nicknames for Holmes supporters. Something that sounds similar to Muck
You realize what you just said, right? YOU didn't like the way he handled last offseason/training camp. YOU didn't. Well, at least not the way it was portrayed in the ever truthful media. _
If it was about money then why would he sign with the Steelers? He was behind Wallace, Sanders and Lewis in their depth chart. His motives for leaving was more than money.
I still believe to this day that Cotchery did not like Holmes and that was why he left. Something had to of transpired between the end of the season and before Cotchery went to the Steelers.
Now I still believe Cotchery was a team first guy - but I think he did not like direction where the team was heading. you can think of that as him abandoning the Jets, or whatever. It's a rather grey area.
So you're forgetting what happened in 2010. The massive groin pull? Maybe no one else thought he had anything left in the tank after his injury and down year. He took the only deal that was offered--but be clear about one thing--he wanted out in his contract year. He thought he could go somewhere else and put up better numbers and get that contract. Something went on there--but again--he quit on his team. He had one year keft on his contract and he BEGGED OUT. That's not a team first guy. And I loved the guy. _
