After this weekend's game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Kansas City Chiefs will have to move Priest Holmes to the active roster for at least the next four games. Only after the tenth game of the season can the Chiefs rule Holmes out for the season.
Priest does have a financial motivation to be on the roster. If he retires, per the collective bargaining agreement, a portion of his $8.5 million dollar signing bonus from 2004 will be up for grabs by the Chiefs. If he is placed on injured reserve after the tenth game of the season, his 2007 salary may be up for grabs but his signing bonus isn't.
Now I'm not an expert on NFL salaries and I'm not 100% sure about the above info. But I'm pretty sure it's true in principle. If Priest retires, the Chiefs go after his signing bonus. If he makes an attempt to play, they can't.
Joe Posnanski's recent article compares Priest Holmes to Larry Johnson, insinuating that Larry should be more like Priest. Posnanski says:
Ahem, Joe. What about the 2006 season? Priest Holmes was nowhere to be found. In light of Priest showing up for a couple of months straight (Amazing!), we seem to have forgotten that Priest Holmes is a selfish hermit, not a leader. He wasn't even in this region of the country for most of the last two years. He's lost any right to be a leader he once had.
Frankly, I'm sick of the blind love for Priest Holmes in this city. I appreciate everything the guy did as a Kansas City Chief. But his time has passed (KC has issues remaining attached to old players) and his current presence on the team only fuels my theory that he's sticking around for money. We can long for the days of the potent Vermeil offense. But those days aren't coming back.
Before I start sounding like an LJ apologist, let me reiterate that this post is about Priest Holmes and not Larry Johnson. If Larry Johnson is a poor teammate, then Priest Holmes is an even poorer one. Posnanski ends his article by saying, "After next week’s game against Cincinnati, he hopes and expects to be cleared to put on the helmet and pads and practice with the team. Then we will find out. Holmes believes he will show everybody something then. He says he’s still got it."
Priest Holmes does still have it. His signing bonus that is.