Holmes did not participate in the first day of Jet’s minicamp
NY Jets wide receiver Santonio Holmes began minicamp in the same place he stopped practice last week — on the sideline. 5-cent overnight money line
The Jets’ top WR, which created a mini-firestorm, last Thursday when he took himself out because he was exhausted, sat out the 1st day of minicamp with an tight hamstring, according to Rex Ryan.
Ryan accepted he overworked Holmes — and the entire receiving corps, for that matter — in the voluntary workouts, which concluded last week. The Jets have suffered a rash of hamstring injuries at the position.
“Obviously I pushed the wideout group, in particular, a little too hard,” Ryan claimed before Tuesday’s practice session.”… That’s an error I made.”
The Jets opened the imperative minicamp with every player in attendance, including safety LaRon Landry, who skipped the voluntary exercise programs as he rehabbed a non surgical Achilles tendon injury from last season. Landry did not practice, but the team is upbeat he is going to be good to go for training camp.
The highly scrutinized QB position stayed unchanged, with Mark Sanchez working exclusively with the starting unit and Tim Tebow with the 2nd team. Neither player impressed in an overall sloppy day for the offense.
Holmes made headlines last Thursday, when he walked off the field close to the end of practice and tossed his helmet. Afterwards, he told reporters the coaches gave him “too many reps.” He maintained that he was not hurt. However according to Ryan, they knew instantly that Holmes had complained of “tightness” in his hamstring.
That was his 3rd OTA exercise after returning from a USO-sponsored trip to Germany, where he visited injured troops at a U.S. Air Force base. Holmes missed 4 practices during the trip.
“When he went to Germany, I was under the impression that was a real positive thing,” Ryan claimed. “Anytime our players and coaches have an opportunity to do something great for our country, and then go for it.”
New offensive coordinator Tony Sparano downplayed last week’s incident, saying that Holmes and the coaches were on the same page. “I don’t think there was any type of misunderstanding or any of those things,” he announced after practice Tuesday. “I don’t become involved in ‘he expounded, she claimed.’ The one thing you will know and my players know: I know exactly how many reps each player has taken, period.”
Holmes declined comment when approached in the locker room by reporters. During training, he probably did agility drills off to one side, even running sprints at one time. But he did not take part in any positional or team drills.
Aside from Holmes, player receivers Jeremy Kerley, Patrick Turner, Chaz Schilens and newbie Stephen Hill are battling hamstring issues. Actually Hill, the electrifying 2nd-round pick, didn’t practice at all. Kerley and Turner were limited, making a patchwork receiving corps that obviously affected the performance of the offense.
At the start of the offseason program, Ryan instructed the strength and conditioning coach to form a demanding weightlifting and conditioning program for the team. After last year’s displeasing finish, Ryan’s target was to step up the power and the sense of pressure.