Yeah, I didn't see that demand coming. When he said he'd shave a bit off his asking price, I assumed that meant the 5-6 million range. I figured he'd be looking for 7 at best. Apparently he wildly overvalued himself.
I think part of the reason that so many people went Braylon-- I didn't, but so many people did-- is that Braylon played the media game and Holmes didn't, and typically doesn't. Holmes postured from the very beginning. Braylon was saying things with the connotation of, "I'll do anything to stay. If it's close, I'll take a discount," etc. Holmes was talking about wanting top market dollar and going to whatever team gave him the most money. What's ironic is, while some of us saw the Holmes posturing in the public for what it was, posturing for a guy who'd never seen a pay day, yet, and presumed Tanny, Rex, and Tone's teammates were un-phased by it, saw it as part of the usual business side of football, and knew where Tone's loyalties were... Others proclaimed they didn't want him back and blah, blah, blah. Then, we find out on record, Holmes wanted to stay in NY with Rex and Mark so bad, he loved them, he didn't want to leave them, and he also didn't want to "turn his back on the people who gave him a second chance just to take some more money" and all of those things factored in to why he took a discount to remain instead of going to the highest bidding team, AND told his agent don't tell me the names of the other teams bidding on me, I don't want to know about anything unless you really don't think it's going to work out that I'm going to be a Jet. I want to be a Jet, we've got nothing to talk about unless we can't come to terms with the Jets, then you can tell me the other names and we'll figure it out, otherwise keep all of that away from me. People misjudge Holmes because he runs his mouth a lot, and is... arrogant, for lack of a better word? But, he seems rather loyal to Rex/The Jets. On the other hand-- We have Braylon, who I appreciate for the play he did for us, but there were all sorts of suspect things he did and said while with us, yet nobody looked at those things at face value, because Braylon was playing the kissas- media game. 1. Got the DWI and was out drinking two days after... Teammates had to tell him not to flash his "gin and tonic" around in the cameras face at the charity event they were at, because it would "look bad." Yet Braylon's telling the public things like-- I haven't had a drink, I don't even like to go out anymore, I... Braylon's teammates off the record talk to some of the NY papers about how "selfish" he is in the same time period. 2. Goes to Jets West-- tweets he's there the first day, saying stuff like, "Jets West" that.is.all! as if he's practicing with the guys, and the next day when the press arrives lo and behold, Mark and Co. haven't seen Braylon, he hasn't been to Jets West practice yet, and then Braylon comes with some story about "personal issues" and then shows up Wednesday, interestingly enough after the press has all reported he's not there, gets his face time AND... Takes that moment with the press to kiss some more butt and take passive aggressive shots at Tone talking about... Egos and ego maniacs and whose ego is going to be able to let its guard down to make things work, and talking about how his(Braylon's) ego isn't clashing... Then Braylon passive aggressively tweets I'm here and that should count for something, etc. etc. all passive aggressive shots at Tone. 3. Braylon misses one of his court hearings back in NY for his DWI, he proclaims it's because he's out West working with his QB-- yet he'd tweeted days earlier that he was headed back to Detroit on a flight and had subsequent tweets indicating that in CA, he was not any longer. So, clearly, that was a lie, who knows why Braylon didn't show at court. Sort of like Braylon's random tweet from jail that one time that also got deleted... 4. Pleads guilty for the DWI and then goes on probation in Cleveland. Who knows if he even got the significance of his DWI, because he seemed to keep making comments like the DWI was BS because they were picking on him due to his tinted windows-- never grasping that he was well over the legal limit, regardless of why he got stopped. 5. A week after getting his probation he gets in a cutlery brawl where people get stabbed with forks and a pocket knife, he tweets about people needing to get their knuckles ready and tells people not to fight if you don't know how, and witnesses allege he was involved and instigating, and tossed punches-- yet the next day, those tweets are gone, and Braylon's claiming through tweet he's been "hacked." Really? 6. He takes to twitter to throw Jets Management under the bus for clearly not making him their first priority or doing what he thought they'd do. Then takes to twitter to potentially toss hate at the Jets LBs. 7. All of this not counting his issues and run-ins back in Cleveland. 8. He crashes his car in Detroit this Summer in the early hours of the morning and there are all sorts of conflicting stories-- from his mouth-- in the Detroit press about whether he was coming or going or about how, and why... One story he claims he was leaving his boat, another story says he was going to get it ready for the next day, another... I mean, COME ON. 9. All of this juxtaposed with the fact that Tone did just the opposite when he went to Jets East. Tone participated fully in Jets East. Didn't tweet that he was there. Didn't seek out the Jets beat writers to take any passive aggressive shots, just showed up, worked with his team, and went back to Florida. No attention. No disparaging comments about the free agents that weren't there. He didn't race to correct Cimini when Cimini was like he's not doing drills, he hasn't been here... he... He just let the press write what they wanted, knowing he and his teammates knew he'd been there the duration and was doing drills, etc. 10. While Braylon was proclaiming "he'd do anything to stay, he wasn't the one with the ego, he'd take a discount, he'd..." It seems he was projecting pretty intensely his own issues on to someone else-- because Tone did take a discount, Tone did let the team structure his contract so he'd have a low cap hit this year so the team had flexibility, did- I'm just saying... The reason the disparity existed, in some part, has to be because people just ate up anything Braylon said, and didn't care to recognize all the garbage amongst it OR just didn't care. Because looking back-- there are way more things that don't add up.
I think its a combination of his route running and his off the field issues. He's not a polished route runner, he never has been. He relies on his size and speed to beat CBs. The league knows this, and he's not seen as a #1 guy. For one year he was a #1 guy. Granted he's never had a top QB throwing to him, but when it comes to just him, he's not a top tier WR.... but he isn't complimentary either. Its weird.
I can't believe the poll is a deadlock at 61. wtf is wrong with 61 of you??? really, edwards over holmes???????????????????????????????????????? I know that top 100 list of players for 2011 may not mean much, but it says something.
Steve Smith's 2011 stats Rec: 27 Yards: 609 Avg: 22.5 Long: 77 TD: 3 FD: 17 (2nd in the NFL in yards) BTW Carlos Rgoers just made a pick 6...
Yeah, he was the self-interested bastard who was actually blocking when the balls weren't coming his way. I really think Holmes exists in the vacuum of his own performance. Doing that ridiculous first down celebration when the team is getting killed but he finally caught a ball was the last straw for me. It's like the anti-Hines Ward move.
If you look back at all my arguments against Holmes (which SO many people bashed me for) I kept saying it, and kept saying it, "Holmes is all about the $ and himself, Braylon's hungry to win and truly wants to play for the NY Jets". Everyone was so blinded by the flashy plays of Holmes in 2010, but it's not like Braylon didn't do anything that year!
Holmes vs. Edwards polls always close to dead even. Other Jets sites I'd check out also had them dead even. Pretty amazing how "off" the general public can be when it comes to matching the mindset of NFL execs. From Jets & the rest of the NFL, it was a no contest on who was more valuable.
The thing is this season was lost due to the fact that the offence was so inept. Blame can be spread all around as it should be but the majority of the faults come from Marky Mark and the WR bunch. Yes, you can argue the running game blah blah but the rush attack is always improved with a downfield threat (which we didn't have). Sanchez this season looked like...Sanchez, you more or less know what you're going to get from him anymore, and you could tell there was a complete lack of trust, chemistry, structure, whatever you want to call it between him and the WR's. This was a topic everyone glazed over with stars in there eyes because we kept Holmes. The loss of Cotch and Braylon for the most part were acknowleged with a good riddance. I think NFL execs and the rest of the village mob are pretty much on the same page. What was that sir?
I am guessing if we had a QB we wouldn't have had any of the issues with Holmes that we did and he would have probably gotten his 1200 yards and 10 TDs and everybody here would be crowing..but we don't, he didn't and here we are.
Sounds like you nailed it. I remember this post actually. You remember what I said about Steve Smith? I got a shot for that one too, oh how people have been wrong on here.
Steve Smith could be a problem too when he wasn't getting the ball due to crappy QB play. And then we'd be killing Tanny for continuing to trade draft picks for over the hill veterans.
Yeah...sure. Because he always got along so well in Pittsburgh. Remember, they dumped him for a sack of footballs and it's not like Big Ben is everyone's favorite person.
