Speculation about Priest Holmes

[bluedog]

From RotoWorld:

RB Priest Holmes met with reporters yesterday and said he hopes to play again.

"I can tell you one thing," Holmes said. "I’m not one to look 20, 30 years down the road. I really look at the next two, three, five years, and I really see myself playing." If Holmes is to become a #1 RB again, it'll be with another team.

 

Assuming he comes back, will he be with another team or will he remain with the Chiefs?

 

Also what round would you draft him at? Is he still a first rounder? I think he'd be low first, mid-second round selection, depending on where he ends up.

 

Discuss

[MrTed46]

Depending on the team he ends up on. He can be a 1st rounder or 3rd rounder.

 

He has the skills to be stud...but at this point he cant do it alone. He will need a line/blockers

[Beaumont]

From today's KC Star:

 

In his first meeting with reporters since going on injured reserve last week, Holmes said Thursday that he hopes to retire a Chief and, at 32, still has a big itch to play. He’ll undergo two more tests in the next 60 days, chat with his family and then decide whether he’ll be back for the 2006 season.

 

If the doctors clear him, Holmes expects to play again. He said his condition has been diagnosed as pressure on his spine, there isn’t a lump and he isn’t in any pain. Holmes isn’t worried. He recalled a recent phone conversation with a fan who suffered a neck injury and advised him not to come back.

 

“I can tell you one thing,” Holmes said. “I’m not one to look 20, 30 years down the road. I really look at the next two, three, five years, and I really see myself playing.”

 

It was a rare, 15-minute glimpse of a man who has been considered somewhat of an enigma in Kansas City, a record-holding running back who has revealed little about himself in his 4 1/2 years as a Chief.

 

He showed up roughly 20 minutes late for his news conference, apologized and then was uncharacteristically feisty as he expressed his irritation over a TV report last week that said he was retiring because of a lump on his spine. Holmes said injuries are part of football, and he can’t figure out why his ailments always seem to spark retirement rumors.

 

But he has failed to finish three of the last four seasons because of injury, and in the past, Holmes always felt an air of invincibility. That changed after his helmet-to-helmet collision at San Diego in late October, when he was referred to two spine specialists. This time, he wants to sit down with his family after he receives his final tests.

 

It was family that kept him in football last year when Holmes was contemplating retirement. His father, Herman Morris, was in Iraq. Holmes, who was just 30, knew his family needed someone to be the man of the house.

 

“My dad said, ‘How in the world am I going to see you if I’m in Iraq and I’m not able to (watch) you on ESPN?’ ” Holmes said.

 

Undrafted as a rookie coming out of Texas, Holmes spent four years as an afterthought in Baltimore and then exploded when he signed with Kansas City in 2001. He set NFL records for most rushing touchdowns (62) and total touchdowns (66) in a three-year span. He went to three Pro Bowls.

 

“I don’t think my family sees me doing anything else but playing,” Holmes said, “being a light for a number of individuals. People who are short, people who are too small, people who they say can’t run fast enough.

 

“I ran a 4.7 in the 40, I believe. I shouldn’t even be here. But I don’t know of anybody else who runs a 4.3 or a 4.2 who scored 27 touchdowns in a season.”

 

Maybe Holmes will spread that inspiration to a team that is 5-4 and in danger of not making the playoffs again. Holmes isn’t required to be at practice during his time on injured reserve, but he returned to Arrowhead this week to be around the team. Coach Dick Vermeil said Holmes’ presence “has a very positive influence on me.”

 

As of Thursday, it was unclear whether Holmes would make the trip this weekend to Houston.

 

“If he’d like to go,” Vermeil said, “I’d like to have him.”

 

It should be an interesting 60 days. As Johnson spends more time as the Chiefs’ No. 1 back, speculation grows that the running backs won’t be able to coexist in 2006. Holmes quashed that talk Thursday, saying the two-back rotation worked for the first part of the season and can work again next year.

 

Until then, Holmes will wait. He scoffed at a question about whether he’d be more apt to return if he was held out of the physical rigors of practice next year. He said he’s taken poundings since he was 8 from his sister when they played in the living room. It’s part of football.

 

“I’m a little selfish right now because I have all the free time in the world,” Holmes said. “And all of my buddies are in there getting ready to go through the three-hour practice we always talk about with coach Vermeil.

 

“Would I change shoes with them right now? I would.”

[Ursa Majoris]

I still think he's done, whatever he says right now. Also, there are too many young RBs coming through for him to be #1 on any team. At best, he will assume a Marshall Faulk role somewhere.

 

That precipitous dropoff that all RBs come to is right in front of Priest now.

[bluedog]

Depending on the team he ends up on. He can be a 1st rounder or 3rd rounder.

 

He has the skills to be stud...but at this point he cant do it alone. He will need a line/blockers

 

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Agreed, Holmes needs to have a great O-line to run behind to be great again. But do you think he'd fall all the way to the 3rd round? Is your assessment based on his history with injuries.

 

I know that if I do draft him next year, I'm going to get his backup as well.

[Ursa Majoris]

I know that if I do draft him next year, I'm going to get his backup as well.

 

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It will most likely be the other way round. You will draft the #1, then Priest as a backup IF he is still playing.

[MrTed46]

Agreed, Holmes needs to have a great O-line to run behind to be great again.  But do you think he'd fall all the way to the 3rd round?  Is your assessment based on his history with injuries.

 

I know that if I do draft him next year, I'm going to get his backup as well.

 

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If plays a backup role I wouldnt draft him before 3rd round.

[Duchess Jack]

If he plays again, he will be the best backup in the league.

[Guggs]

So, what happens to Priest now? With Larry Johnson kicking butt, I wonder what Holmes' future is.

[LooGie]

So, what happens to Priest now? With Larry Johnson kicking butt, I wonder what Holmes' future is.

 

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he's done man. look at it realistically. He's old, he can't stay healthy. No way he takes the job back from LJ. No way they make him the 3rd down back, i mean, why would you, when LJ is fantastic any down. It's just not worth it unless LJ gets hurt, and Holmes won't want to hear that he's the complete back up, and would be lucky to get a carry every 3 or 4 games.