In a surprise after the amount of criticism levied toward Santonio Holmes during the New York Jets' brief offseason, team owner Woody Johnson said the wide receiver would return to the Jets in 2012.
Holmes' contract makes it difficult for the Jets to release him, but Johnson said there are other reasons to keep the wide receiver in New York.
"He may be one of the best players we've ever had here," Johnson said. "You could look at his talent level and he's extraordinarily talented." (via the New York Post)
Talented, yes. But Holmes has been criticized for his bad attitude, and he developed a deep rift with quarterback Mark Sanchez that hindered the team as it fell to 8-8.
Johnson said he is concerned about the receiver's relationship with Sanchez but confident they can repair their differences, adding that a small amount of locker room tension might even benefit the team.
"Absolutely I'm concerned, but I'm confident that it can be [repaired]," Johnson said of the relationship between the two. "They've won a lot of games together and one is good for the other. Santonio makes the quarterback a lot better and vice versa. They have a good reason to iron this thing out and I think he can do it." ...
"I didn't feel the toxicity of the locker room," Johnson said. "I respect LaDainian at the highest level, but I don't think the whole locker room was toxic. I think there clearly were a few players that had conflicts. ... You've got 53 individuals in that locker room. At any one time, there are going to be arguments and altercations and so on. Would you love to have total harmony? Maybe. But maybe it's good to have a little disharmony also. But they have to care about each other."
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