Jets receiver Santonio Holmes has $7.5 million in guaranteed salary this year. He has another $3.5 million in non-guaranteed salary.
The Jets want him to drop the non-guaranteed money. Holmes could refuse. The Jets would then likely cut him. And he would make only $7.5 million elsewhere, thanks to the offset provision in his contract.
In theory, he could make more, if someone else would pay him more. But with a foot injury that ended his 2012 season early, no one will pay him more than $7.5 million.
His best bet, then, would be to take the pay cut and remain with the Jets for $7.5 million. At a time when plenty of folks wonder whether Holmes, the Super Bowl XLII MVP, gets it, he can prove that he does by giving up the $3.5 million and focusing on becoming the best player he can be, for a team that doesn’t have very many good players.