It’s getting uglier by the minute for Santonio Holmes in New York. But unless the Jets want to pay him not to work, they’re stuck with him for at least another year -- and maybe two.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Holmes is due to receive a guaranteed base salary of $7.75 million in 2012. It’s fully guaranteed, for injury, skill, and salary cap.
And here’s where the decision gets even thornier. If he’s on the roster on the second day of the 2012 league year, $7.5 million of his $11 million base salary in 2013 becomes fully guaranteed, too.
And so the Jets have to decide whether to cut him loose and owe him only $7.75 million, or whether to keep him and owe him a fully guaranteed $7.75 million for 2012 and a fully guaranteed $7.5 million for 2013.
Meanwhile, the storm clouds are gathering for Holmes. An unnamed Jets player told Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News that Holmes is a “cancer,” and that playing with Holmes is “like dealing with a 10 [year] old.”
It sounds like Holmes is one of many 10 year olds in New York, and it would be wise for Woody Johnson or someone else to act like a grown up, soon.