Posts tagged TorryHolt at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Terrence Holt, Torry Holt's brother, insists Torry wasn't joking when he said he'd like to finish his career with his brother in Carolina when his contract with the Rams is up in two years. Yeah, no kidding.

I think more than joking, I think he was just realistic about where he's at in his contract and in his career," he said. "He has two years left on his deal, and I don't think he said anything out of the realm of what could happen.

Terrence goes on to defend Torry's talk of returning home -- both Holt brothers grew up in North Carolina and played at N.C. State -- by bringing up the brutal honesty and lack of loyalty that teams display. That's all well and good, when Torry's contract is up he's free to go anywhere he wants or say anything he wants about the Rams.

That isn't the issue. The issue is that Holt has a commitment to the Rams right now. And for all of the work he's put in for them, they've rewarded him handsomely. It's not right of him to continue to daydream about something two years down the line (who knows what can happen in that time?) when he's got a season to prepare for. Terrence especially notes that "He's actually been up here a few times and is beginning to fall in love with the area."

This all seems like far more than just cursory preparation. And I still think that if the Rams, and Holt in particular, are not successful this year, he's setting himself up for some hostility both in the locker room and the city itself.

Last offseason, the Rams let slot receiver Kevin Curtis sign with Philadelphia but thought that they had covered their tracks by signing Drew Bennett (because, as we all know, white receivers are all exactly the same). That turned out to be, uh, not so smart -- Curtis had 1,110 yards and six touchdowns, Bennett had 375 and three.

Of course, the situations they were in played a part in that discrepancy -- it's naive to think Curtis would have had such a great season if he stayed in St. Louis -- but Bennett just isn't a very good player. He's still living off the reputation the briefly-prolific Billy Volek-Bennett connection produced, when the duo caught fire towards the end of the 2004 season, but you don't see anyone arguing for Volek as a legitimate starting quarterback. Other than that aberration, Bennett is an average third option who routinely sits near the bottom of the league in catch percentage.

Which is why it makes perfect sense that the Rams handed him a starting job this season. Actually, it's a promotion borne out of necessity, as the team doesn't have any other viable option opposite of Torry Holt. Bennett is saying all the right things about bouncing back, but I'm dubious. Sure, I expect the offense to be better, but with Holt's knee deteriorating the team doesn't have a receiver to draw attention from Bennett.

Maybe he doubles his numbers from last year, which is a step in the right direction, but falling in line with his career thus far -- serviceable, yet wholly overrated.

Torry Holt took a hardline stance when asked his impressions of Rams' rookie receiver Donnie Avery yesterday, which is fine -- this "prove it" stuff happens between veterans and rookies every year, and Holt has the career and locker room respect to be brash. But how much longer will Holt have that respect?

This is merely an opinion, but if Holt continues down the path he's on, I'm not sure his reputation in St. Louis is going to be regarded as lovingly as it currently is.

It seems unlikely that Holt will ever be the bad guy in St. Louis as it stands, considering his production and seemingly benevolent demeanor. But the same was thought of Tiki Barber years ago, and that didn't stop him from embarking on a degradation campaign.

The seeds were planted last year, when Holt blew up on Scott Linehan in an incident that seems to go far deeper than either side portrayed. This offseason, Holt has publicly daydreamed about a future playing in Carolina.

Hmmm, a team trying to rebound from a bad year dealing with distractions because one player couldn't get along with his coach and was playing with one foot out the door. Where have we heard that one before? I'm not saying anything definitive, and of course I can be proven very wrong this season. But the parallels are there, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see hostility continue to rise.

Torry Holt has reached a point in his career when he doesn't have to sugarcoat things. He's got his Super Bowl ring, and as he enters his 10th season, he's still one of the NFL's top-5 wide receivers (that can very easily be overlooked/forgotten altogether playing in St. Louis these days).

This might partially explain his in-season blowup directed at head coach Scott Linehan, his recent joking suggestion that he might join the Panthers, and these comments about the Rams 2008 second-round pick, and the guy who will replace Isaac Bruce, Donnie Avery. (Or maybe Holt's just really, really frustrated with playing on a losing team that doesn't look to get better anytime soon. Definitely one or the other, though.)

Asked his early impressions of Avery, Holt said tersely, "Right now, I don't have any impressions of Donnie Avery. ... Hopefully, during training camp he'll show me something."

As the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Bill Coats rightly points out, "It's not that Holt is unhappy with Avery; he just wants to let him know that he has to prove himself before he can run with the big dogs. Which is fine with Avery. 'I like that,' he said. 'When other people are strict on me, it brings the best out of me.'"

There was some nervous laughter surrounding Torry Holt's recent comments about him becoming a Carolina Panther (see the video above ... the comments below). Holt was at a golf outing in North Carolina just after his brother Terrence signed with the Carolina Panthers.

"I wanted to send in my resignation to the the Rams and see if I could join him," the elder Holt joked. "I'm excited, but I'm also a little jealous because I've always wanted an opportunity to come back home."

Holt is from Greensboro, NC and was a star at NC State. There was some joking there, especially when the word "resignation" was thrown in.

However, it has to be a bit concerning to the Rams that Holt said this, especially as he enters the final two years of his contract. He's had a rocky relationship with head coach Scott Linehan and just witnessed the unceremonial exodus of fellow receiver Isaac Bruce this offseason.

Recent comments threw some more fuel on the fire ... especially since he name dropped the Panthers again.

St. Louis Rams 2008 Draft Picks:

Round 1 (2): Chris Long, DE, Virginia
Round 2 (33): Donnie Avery, WR, Houston
Round 3 (65): John Greco, OT, Toledo
Round 4 (101): Justin King, CB, Penn State
Round 4 (128): Keenan Burton, WR, Kentucky
Round 5 (157): Roy Schuening, OG, Oregon St.
Round 7 (228): Chris Chamberlain, DB, Tulsa
Round 7 (252): David Vobora, OLB, Idaho

The Good: Long is as close to a sure thing as you get and the Rams addressed their greatest need instead of taking Glenn Dorsey. The team got a steal in King, who went about two rounds too late. Likewise, Greco and Schuening are both good values, and both are talented players. Not only did the Rams address their biggest problem, they found good players without spending first-day picks on them.

The Bad: Of course, that doesn't mean anything if the Rams waste those picks anyway. Taking Avery absolutely baffles me. He's fast, and will help in returns, but he's not Devin Hester. You can find a return man later, especially when you need every-down starting receivers and Devin Thomas and James Hardy are available. Even DeSean Jackson was there, and he's the same type of receiver as Avery except better in every way. This is even with the Titans taking Chris Johnson as the worst pick of the draft in my mind. Burton, who has potential, will outperform him.

The Grade: B. The team really improved their two weakest areas from last season -- pass rush and offensive line -- and added a very talented corner who at one point was considered a borderline first-rounder. Still, with the 33rd pick they could have fixed their third biggest need, and blew that opportunity considerably. That's a huge blemish if Torry Holt can't stay healthy this year.

Click here to read other Draft Grades.

With each pick of the FanHouse mock draft, we get into the head of an NFL general manager and let you know who he'll pick and why.

A lot of people feel like Glenn Dorsey has to be the guy the Rams take in this spot, especially after a good workout that eased concerns about his knees. Others recognize the Rams' woes at pass rush -- no matter how hard Leonard Little tries to convince all his career isn't in the tank -- and think they should look at Vernon Gholston.

In this instance, the Rams are taking Jake Long.

Gholston is an absolute freak, and he'd do very good things for the Rams defense. But the Rams have contracts of $65 million and $42 million tied into Marc Bulger and Torry Holt, respectively, and will be making Steven Jackson probably the highest-paid running back of all-time in the near future. With that much money and talent on offense, we saw how little of a return they got without Orlando Pace in the lineup last year.

The Rams official talking to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jim Thomas makes a good point: the team is trying to get better; trading wideout Torry Holt would actually accomplish the opposite. Still, rumors persist: Holt could be on his way to Philly or Cincy or anywhere other than St. Louis. It ain't happenin' though:

"There's no interest, no discussions about trading Torry Holt," [head coach Scott] Linehan said. "He's on our team, we want him on our team, and I hope he feels the same way."

Besides, it simply makes no sense to move Holt. The release of Isaac Bruce leaves Holt, Drew Bennett and Dante Hall as the Rams' top three wide receivers. The team needs to add another quality body at receiver, not subtract one.

First, I'm glad to see Linehan and Holt have patched things up. Second, if Holt was shipped elsewhere, I can't imagine a wide receiver corps "featuring" a former college quarterback and a return guy. Not to mention the possibility of Trent Green serving as the backup quarterback. That, along with all the offensive line issues, would pretty much guarantee 2008 to be worse than 2007. No easy task for a team that won just three games last season.

On the upside, with the addition of Josh Brown, the Rams could just field-goal teams to death next season, which suggests that maybe there isn't really a need for a traditional NFL offense in St. Louis. Or something.

Usually the first day of free agency doesn't see such a big kicker story (relatively speaking). The Rams saw their longtime kicker, Jeff Wilkins, retire on Friday. Wilkins informed the team in the morning that he was taking his K-ball and going home.

Wilkins declined to meet with reporters Friday, instead issuing a statement: "Throughout my 11 years with the Rams, everybody in the organization has been fantastic - from the top to the bottom," he said. "But my retirement is best for me, my family, and the Rams."

Wilkins' retirement has as much to do with health issues as anything.

Nagging leg and back injuries, which could be nerve-related, have spread, and treatments have been unsuccessful.

No biggie. The Rams then go out and sign free agent kicker Josh Brown to a five-year deal later in the evening. Brown, who spent his first five seasons with the Seahawks, has been a Rams killer during his career. Last year, he kicked two game winning field goals over St. Louis that directly affected the outcome of the NFC West. So, not only do they find a capable replacement, they hurt a division rival.

With Wilkins retiring and Issac Bruce getting released, there are only three Rams left from their Super Bowl XXXIV championship team: Torry Holt, Leonard Little and Orlando Pace.

The Rams saved themselves some cash earlier today by restructuring Leonard Little's contract. The plan was to get Isaac Bruce -- you know ... future Hall of Famer, third in all-time receiving yards, sixth in all-time receptions ... yeah, that Isaac Bruce -- to take a pay cut. Bruce wasn't too receptive to that idea.

So the Rams cut loose the 35-year-old former second-rounder who has spent all 14 of his seasons in St. Louis rather unceremoniously. The dispute was a $2 million roster bonus. The Rams wanted Bruce to forget about that and just play for his $3 million salary.

Bruce had game last year, putting up solid numbers in a terrible offense, but he's obviously at the age where each season is one season closer to a plummet in ability. He'll find work -- and probably pretty quickly -- from someone willing to believe he has another year, and he's a great locker room presence for young receivers. An amateur connect-the-dots places him in San Francisco, where the 49ers need receivers badly and Mike Martz will probably make a push for him. But who knows.

The Rams, meanwhile, better take some of the money they're creating to go find another receiver. If they're planning on going into the season with Torry Holt and his deteriorating joints, the remarkably below-average Drew Bennett (where for art thou, Billy Volek), and that collection of backups ... Chip Rosenbloom's not going to enjoy his first season.