Sense of entitlement made WR expendable, even for a fifth-rounder. Andrew Brandt
The trade of Santonio Holmes from the Steelers to the Jets for a fifth-round draft pick in next week’s draft proves two essential facts that don’t often get suitable attention in the NFL: Character counts, and when a trade seems too good to be true for one side, there is usually a lot more to it.
Character counts
Every year that I was part of an NFL front office, I learned more about the value of character and having solid professionals in the locker room. Yes, no team can have a roster full of altar boys, and ultimately, talent plays a vital role in a team’s success. Nonetheless, there is no substitute for high character in shaping the dynamic of a team. Conversely, it’s never good for players, especially young players, to be infected by low morals.
Locker rooms are divided into different compartments, usually separated by position. Typically, there’s an alpha dog closely watched and emulated by the younger pups around him. The behavior and sense of entitlement of that player have an impact on others’ behavior and sense of entitlement.
Javon Jagone
In Green Bay, I remember some long offseasons with talented yet troubled players, one being Javon Walker, a supremely gifted receiver who arrived with a “yes sir, no sir” attitude that changed with his success. Javon suffered a knee injury and became – for reasons beyond and including his contract – disenchanted with living in Green Bay and playing for the Packers. His behavior became a problem and was contagious to some of our other young players. It became clear that it was time to move on, and we traded him during the 2006 draft for a second-round pick.
Holmes must go
I’m told that since his breakout game in Super Bowl XLIII 15 months ago, Holmes has shown some sense of entitlement in the Pittsburgh locker room. With young and upcoming players such as Limas Sweed (second round, 2008) and Mike Wallace (third round, 2009), along with newly acquired Arnaz Battle and Antwan Randle El back for another stint, the Steelers were hedging their bets on Holmes.
Holmes’ suspension to come is due to a violation of the league’s Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse, although his latest alleged incident involves conduct. Holmes’ recent behavior is neither new nor shocking. The one thing that becomes clear about people with a history of questionable behavior is that as much as we want change, it rarely happens.
Was anyone surprised when Pacman Jones continued to place himself in compromising positions? Was anyone surprised when Plaxico Burress ignored discipline from the Giants despite multiple fines? Does anyone really think that Terrell Owens will refrain from pointing fingers if he’s not successful?
I worry when I hear coaches or management say something like, “When he gets here, we’ll make sure he’s in the right environment and he won’t screw up.” History usually repeats itself.
With Holmes, his talent had overridden the problems that came with it. The latest incident, combined with what’s been going on with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, made Holmes expendable, which led to...
The trade
The Steelers took what they could get and ran. Is Santonio Holmes only worth a fifth-round pick? No (during the Steelers’ Super Bowl-winning drive, I kept yelling that all the Cardinals had to do was cover No. 10, but they couldn’t). This trade was not about player value. This trade took into account character and consequences.
The Steelers were informed that Holmes faced a four-game suspension in 2010, making his maximum games available 12. This spurred Pittsburgh’s conclusion that a change was necessary.
When trading for a player, teams want to know that the player is under contract for a respectable time frame, not subject to suspension by the league, accountable and available. Holmes is a player with questionable behavior, an expiring contract and limited availability next season.
The fact he was a Super Bowl MVP or had 1,248 receiving yards last year was secondary. The Steelers’ main objective was to move him off their roster and – according to Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – would have simply released him without compensation.
It’s up to you, New York
Enter the Jets. After adding Antonio Cromartie earlier in the offseason, they now bring in another player with a troublesome off-field reputation. Certainly, management feels this coach can take a potentially combustible mix of players and mold them into a productive group.
As with everything, time will tell, but this trade was about a lot of things, few of which were the on-field ability of the player.
Follow me on Twitter: adbrandt
a reader made a great point in peter kings column today....did character count in the cases of Jeff Reed, JAmes Harrison or Najah DAvenport....?? character is a factor...but not the deciding one...gotta throw in contract status, suspension...etc..etc .. like the guy said in kings article ....they waited til final year of contract..and a suspension...to all of a sudden take a stance on character....cmon...its ridiculous.. its all about convenience...and necessity...
I agree yahoodave.
I still have yet to see the harm in the Steelers on field record because of Santonio Holmes. All that was damaged was some imaginary "good name" the Steelers organization thinks they have vs. the rest of the league. In fact, the Steelers off-the-field issues have been terrible that last 4 seasons, yet didn't stop them from winning two super bowls, or having their best "era" since the 1970's.
I'm see as much positive press about the Jets potential as I am about the Steelers cleaning up their image. You can't have both without being a complete hypocrite.
So easy for Rooney and the Steelers to take the high road and say "I won't sell my soul to win" after you've already won.
If the Steelers organization knew Holmes was a locker room issue, if they knew he had 2 strikes on the substance abuse policy in addition to his close run-ins with the law, why not man-up and trade him last year, when his value was high? The Steelers took the risk and I think they should have stayed "all-in" with their decision, which means ride our Holmes through his rookie deal and let him head into free agency and get the proper compensative with compensatory picks. Believe me, even with his bagage, 80-catch, 1250 yard receivers at age 27 get good contracts in free agency.
I have no problem with the organization saying we don't want Holmes long-term on the team or using these facts to low-ball Holmes a 2nd contract offer. But basically releasing him now in this panic-driven, image repairing, method is stupid and wasteful of a resource you have on your team.
I also don't buy this is a "message" that will clean up the Steelers off-the-field issue like a magic pill. If we have bad apples in there, they are still bad apples. And keeping Holmes one more season wasn't going to make them worse or better apples.
Andy,
Two words you never mentioned in this column about the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ben Roethlisberger
What happened, Andy? Cat got your tongue? Somebody break your fingers?
You wrote that "the behavior and sense of entitlement of that player have an impact on others’ behavior and sense of entitlement." Does such behavior and a sense of entitlement apply to Big Ben?
Or do you place different criteria on the black wide receiver and the white quarterback? If so, why?
Andy, your blatant racism is showing and, while hardly unexpected, it's even offensive to NFL fans. One expects to see you at a Tea Party event, screaming about protecting "your people" real soon.
Andrew:
I think the message doesn't get thru to a lot of these guys till they're penniless and signing autographs in a mall Kiosk like Mickey Rourke in the Wrestler.
Javon Walker wasn't monetarily punished for being a wad. He was rewarded.
Plaxico and Pacman lost millions because of Jail or the threat thereof.
To me the only way to get thru to about 6% of these Knumbskulls is to show them the spreadsheet on money lost due to being an A$$wipe.
I was wondering when somebody was going to play the race card on this story.
Mark, there's not a difference between "the black wide receiver and the white quarterback" so much as there's a difference between a wide receiver and a quarterback. I wouldn't go quite so far as to say that wide receivers are a dime a dozen, but quarterbacks like Rothlisberger are very, very rare. It takes a lot of bad conduct to make one more trouble than he's worth. WRs, on the other hand, they become more trouble than they're worth more easily.
Would Holmes have been traded if he was white? I don't know. If you have an opinion on it, then by all means let's hear it. But it's hardly enough of a slam-dunk issue to justify your flaming remarks towards this author.
Has anyone thought of just morals. Our kids watch these guys and worship them. I don't care if a team does win the Super Bowl, what about character of the players, black and white, don't make a difference.
Just because you are talented it does not give you the right to act like a jerk and do anything you want.
You know going into the NFL you will be looked up to by people, live up to it or get the hell out. We have enough villans in our country we don't need this for our kids.
GrizzB
I agree when you said: "one thing that becomes clear about people with a history of questionable behavior is that as much as we want change, it rarely happens." Those players don't learn from their mistakes and the punishments rarely change their attitude either. Cromartie is a classic example, one paternity lawsuit, another paternity lawsuit, a third paternity lawsuit. You would have thought he would finally make some changes to his life, but not even a fourth, fifth and sixth paternity case has altered his behaviour. I doubt it will end with seven. His off field issues became bigger than his talent and he's only been in the league four years. Pretty sad.
Dan,
The fact (you know, that thing that undercuts your argument) remains that Andy backed the Steelers for getting rid of the black troublemaker but TYPED NOT ONE WORD about the Steelers keeping the white troublemaker.
Andy's racism, and your acceptance of it, are without question.
You think it's racism, Mark? Three words: LOL. Get a clue dude.
Andrew is no racist, and he showed great courage in calling out Rush Limbaugh over HIS racism back when he was trying to buy the Rams. But the NFL has plenty of institutional racism, and it's on display this week. What more does Rothlesberger have to do to get suspended? It doesn't seem to matter what position, either; Matt Jones was handled with kid gloves by Goodell for blowing lines of coke in public, while Vick was locked up.
I will say that I disagree with Mr. Brandt on the claim that nobody can ever change. White players are always given second chances in th NFL. If Bret Favre were black his career would have been MUCH shorter given his drug addiction. Drew Brees was incredibly lazy for years (ask around, it's true, and note how up and down his early career was). Brees and Favre were given a chance to turn their careers around and won Super Bowls. I'll bet you anything Big Ben gets the same chance. If Big Ben were Big Black Ben, he's have been suspended last time, and this time would be in jail. I bet the GBI would have pressed charges if a black guy was date-raping sweet white co-eds!
Mark: How convenient it is for you to accuse Andy of racism. I'm not seeing it. He did mention Ben factoring into the Steelers decision to release Holmes. You should aim your ire at the Steelers not Andy.
Mark: How convenient it is for you to accuse Andy of racism. I'm not seeing it. He did mention Ben factoring into the Steelers decision to release Holmes. You should aim your ire at the Steelers not Andy.
Goodell has waited to rule on Ben but he was swift in judging Bill Belicheck.
Here is a list of his suspensions. Wondering who is missing???
Entire 2007 season Adam "Pacman" Jones[10] Cornerback Tennessee Titans
First 8 games of 2007 season Chris Henry[10] Wide receiver Cincinnati Bengals
First 10 games of 2007 season Terry "Tank" Johnson[12] Defensive tackle Chicago Bears
Suspended for the first two regular season games in the 2009 season and could play by week three of the season. He can play the final two pre-season games. Michael Vick[13]
2008 Indefinite (ultimately was the minimum of 4 games) Adam "Pacman" Jones[14] Cornerback Dallas Cowboys
2008 3 games Matt Jones[15] Wide receiver Jacksonville Jaguars
2009 Entire 2009 Season Donte Stallworth Wide Receiver Cleveland Browns
The question remains, why has Andy so coddled Ben "The Accused Serial Sexual Predator" Roethlisberger and declined to address his myriad of activities - and chosen, instead, to bash Santonio Holmes.
Unless one is blindly loyal or criminally stupid, one can only ask why has Andy endorsed Roethlisberger's activities by his silence and attacked Holmes.
This is a black and white issue and Andy's colors, sadly, are showing.
First off, because an article was written about one specific person, and no mention concerning another in no way constitutes racism. The title of the article matches what is in the content of the article. He may write, and probably will, an entire different article about Big Ben.
Do not accuse anyone of racism, because a story was written in regards to them and did not mention someone else. You could cry racism if he wrote an article about Big Ben (white guy), but never mentioned Holmes (black guy). Your argument then would be he was racist for not talking about Holmes and the only reason he wasn't talking about Holmes is because he is black.
Anyway you decide to look at in your own reverse racist way, it would appear to you as racism.
Who cares if Ben is white and Holmes is black...they are both self-centered idiots. Both will be suspended and both deserve it. Stop trying to make more out of it than that.
Suspensions are worse for black players over white and other races in the NFL...because of racism?
Ok, first you realize that 75% of NFL players are "black". So 3 out of every 4 players that could possibly do something wrong are black. Each player suspended for drug issues like Holmes and Matt Jones get the same amount of time.
Last I checked, being a lazy QB wasn't listed as a crime or even a rule violation. Secondly, every single player suspended has gotten a second chance, even a third chance, so where does this crap your spewing about others getting more chances than them? Complete fabrication.
Take a look at the NFL suspension timeline and go through the list of suspension and offenses, then come back here and do a re-post about how much your original post was a pack of lies.
I guess Mark is correct about Andrew's racism. In this column, Andrew writes about a black WR's problems, but not the white QB's problems. Clearly racist! And in Andrew's last column, April 12, Andrew writes about the white QB's problems but doesn't mention the black WR's problems. Clearly racist also!
Racist against whites one week, racist against blacks the next! What a seething cauldron of hatred Andrew must be!
Enough of this racism angle.
Andrew's post quite rightly highlights that Holmes is a talent who has started to believe his own hype. The posturing and muscle-flexing, the swagger, came out more last season than before. I don't blame him for backing himself though, all the best players in the league are supremely confident and have no problem with telling the world how good they are.
I have no idea if Holmes is going to go to the Jets and blow their locker room up, or be grateful for a second chance (as his recent words would have you believe), but the signs aren't promising. It's not like he was frustrated at out-performing on a poor team (despite the Steelers' struggles last season), like Moss was in Oakland, or Ocho Cinco in Cincy.
When someone develops an ego, the knock-on effect through a franchise can be devastating. Ask Cowboys fans how their '08 season went. Rex Ryan is a risk-taker though and probably sees his team going the way of the ’94 49ers than self-destructsville. Have to say I’m sceptical though.
Enough of this racism angle.
Andrew's post quite rightly highlights that Holmes is a talent who has started to believe his own hype. The posturing and muscle-flexing, the swagger, came out more last season than before. I don't blame him for backing himself though, all the best players in the league are supremely confident and have no problem with telling the world how good they are.
I have no idea if Holmes is going to go to the Jets and blow their locker room up, or be grateful for a second chance (as his recent words would have you believe), but the signs aren't promising. It's not like he was frustrated at out-performing on a poor team (despite the Steelers' struggles last season), like Moss was in Oakland, or Ocho Cinco in Cincy.
When someone develops an ego, the knock-on effect through a franchise can be devastating. Ask Cowboys fans how their '08 season went. Rex Ryan is a risk-taker though and probably sees his team going the way of the ’94 49ers than self-destructsville. Have to say I’m sceptical though.
Amazing! People will believe what they want to believe and act accordingly. They will also say some pretty dumb things also.
disgrace to the Steeler Name. I hope the Steelers get rid of him so the rest of the Steelers can beat the crap out of him on the field. He a real jerk. Good Players yes. but I am ashamed to be seen with a Steeler jersey or my of faithful cap.
Thoughts on Indy, Eli, Wes, Mario...
The numbers behind the game
Real action is week before the...
Signs point to the end of an era
Looking at the NFL's biggest offseason...
Apr 13, 2010
01:25 PM
So Andrew, given your take on history usually repeating itself, I would be curious about your opinion on Randy Moss. If the Patriots start struggling, does Randy pull things like he did in Minnesota and Oakland? Or is Bill one of the rare coaches that truly can provide the right situation and change behaviors?