Don't cry over Holt -- he had to go
March 14
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Jeff Gordon
"There is little room for sentimentality in the hyper-competitive NFL. And there is absolutely no place for nostalgia when a team goes 5-27 over a two-year period.
So the Rams let Torry Holt go Friday with little fanfare. The team sent out a news release with a boilerplate comment attributed to owner Chip Rosenbloom:
"The Rams will forever be grateful for the way Torry Holt represented the Rams on the field and in the community. He is an All-Pro in every sense of the word. Over the past 10 seasons Torry has proven himself to be one of the finest wide receivers in league history. This is a difficult decision because Torry has meant so much to the organization. In my mind and for all Rams fans, Torry will always be a Ram and we wish him and his family nothing but the best as they move forward."
Those were nice words, for sure, but they didn't bring warmth to the team's decision.
Business is business. In this salary-cap era, the league is a cold place.
Holt is no longer one of the top few wide receivers in the game, as he had been for so many years. Last year he caught 64 passes for 796 yards. That made him about the 35th-best receiver in the league.
He seldom showed his old route-running burst. He runs on balky knees these days, a deterioration that requires weekly management.
Torry has been unhappy for a couple of years now. He talked earlier of his interest in finishing his career elsewhere.
He was unwilling to restructure his contract here to make it more cap-friendly. He hasn't exactly been front and center at Rams Park in recent years, setting the pace during the offseason work. Instead, he has seemed detached.
When the team offered Holt around the league to see if there was trade value, he asked to be released.
Add it all up and the decision was obvious: Holt had to go."
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