Chiefs RB Holmes expected to retire after another neck injury

**Guru** · 11-20-2007, 11:43 PM

http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=090...o&confirm=true

Banged-up Chiefs RB Holmes expected to retire
By Adam Schefter | NFL Network

Kansas City Chiefs running back Priest Holmes is expected to retire after suffering another neck injury Sunday and meeting with doctors this week. An announcement could come as early as Wednesday.

One source familiar with the situation said Tuesday night: "He is retiring for sure. Noon press conference on Wednesday."

However, a Chiefs spokesman denied that and said that Holmes still is weighing his options.

A three-time Pro Bowler, Holmes was one of the league's top running backs from 2001-05, rushing for almost 6,000 yards and scoring a then-record 27 touchdowns in 2003. His career appeared to be over when he sustained neck and spinal injuries during a game at San Diego in October 2005 and spent the next two years completely away from the game.

But he called the Chiefs shortly before they went to training camp in July and told them he had seen himself in a dream playing football again and wanted to stage a comeback.

Holmes capped a remarkable comeback story when he was activated in Week 7 against the Oakland Raiders. Holmes made two recent starts for the Chiefs and gained 137 yards on 46 attempts in four games.

Holmes would retire as the Chiefs' all-time leading rusher with 6,070 yards. He has rushed for 8,172 yards in his 11-year career with Baltimore and Kansas City.

The Chiefs, who traded running back Michael Bennett to Tampa Bay last month and possibly lost Larry Johnson for the season with a mysterious foot injury, could turn to rookie Kolby Smith to start against the Raiders on Sunday. Smith, a fifth-round selection out of Louisville, has rushed for 19 yards on 10 attempts this season.

**timsatt1** · 11-21-2007, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by CHIEFS_FN_ROCK

I was just looking at some pics and priest was a WORK HORSE!!! What a Class act he was. I was thinking to myself and saying i never heard him complain and not once did i ever see him get mad and throw the ball..LJ TAKE SOME NOTES!!! Heres the link i was looking at. im not smart enough to figure out how to put them on here so here it is http://www.kcchiefs.com/gallery/2007...riest_holmes/2

i agree. it is always great to see amazing athletes that are humble at the same time.

too many of them get caught up in the hype and think they are God's gift to the earth. (LJ :) )

thanks priest for all the years of entertainmnet you provided me!! I will always miss you, trent green and tony G at the height of that Chiefs team. They were a fun bunch to watch.

sorry you have to watch this same crap that we see every week now under Hitler's reign AKA Herman Edwards.

**Polleo Pit Man** · 11-21-2007, 09:34 PM

GRETZ: A Thankful Priest

Nov 21, 2007, 3:54:59 PM by Bob Gretz - FAQ

So they finally found three guys who could stop Priest Holmes and his football career.
Not three guys really. Three kids.
There was great significance that as he announced his retirement from football Wednesday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium, Priest Holmes was joined by his three sons. De’Andre who is 14 years old, nine-year old Jekovan and Corion who is five.
They did what the NFL and a legion of naysayers could not do over the last dozen years: they stopped Priest Holmes in his tracks.
“We are just one day away from Thanksgiving,” Holmes said. “Keeping that in mind, I sit her amongst my sons … and there is just so much more that I’ve been given in opportunity and so much more life that I have to experience and at this time I’m announcing my retirement from the NFL.”
Several times in his remarks and in answers to questions he referred to his sons. What became very clear is this: Priest Holmes wants to be able to years from now throw the football around with his kids, and his grand children and maybe even the great-grand children.
To play football any longer would have put those opportunities in peril. During Sunday’s game in Indianapolis, Holmes began to feel some of the same sensations that plagued him more than two years ago. He wouldn’t go into any detail, but there’s no question what he was feeling scared him. It certainly alarmed the Chiefs.
Holmes had made a deal with the Chiefs in his comeback that if he suffered any type of reaction to physical contact, he would tell them. There was no hiding what he was feeling on Sunday, whether physically or emotionally.
When he met with the doctors on Monday and found that there was nothing more in the way of protection that could be provided to him with his helmet and shoulder pads, Holmes knew what he had to do. Those three boys left him with no other decision.
“Football will always be part of me,” Holmes said afterwards. “I’m from Texas; we are born with that in our blood. But my future in football will be in helping and watching my sons play the game, or do whatever they choose to do.”
Holmes had beaten the odds so many times. It started in college, after he blew out his knee at Texas. Then there was Baltimore where they signed him as a rookie free agent and then let him escape because they had a No. 1 draft choice in Jamal Lewis who they wanted to make their feature back. Lewis had a big year in 2003 but he would eventually serve time in prison and would be injury prone.
He beat the odds when he joined the Chiefs. He showed up as a nobody, barely noticed was his signing in free agency. All he did was become the engine of the Flying Vermeil offense, scoring touchdown after touchdown, setting records and becoming the franchise’s all-time leading rusher.
And Holmes beat the odds after Shawne Merriman’s hit in October of 2005 left him in physical limbo for nearly two years. He returned this year, worked with the same type of vigor and dedication that he’s always shown and he returned to the field and displayed again that he’s one of those remarkable people that populate our world of fun and games.
Right now, it’s time for Holmes to quit playing the odds. Every pro football player must come to deal with the knowledge that they are one play away from devastation every time they step on the field.
Priest Holmes not only knows that, he’s physically felt it.
The future with De’Andre, Jekovan and Corion was much more important than another game, another carry, another hit.

**Polleo Pit Man** · 11-21-2007, 09:44 PM

• Three-time Pro Bowl running back enjoyed a stellar seven-year run with Kansas City from 2001-07 after signing with the Chiefs on April 21, 2001.

• Produced 1,780 carries for 8,172 yards (4.6 avg.) with 86 TDs, as well as 339 receptions for 2,962 yards (8.7 avg.) and eight TDs over his 11-year NFL career.

• During his 65 regular season games (63 starts) in a Kansas City uniform established nine different Chiefs career records, including marks for rushing yards (6,070), total TDs (83) and rushing TDs (76).

• Also holds eight different Kansas City single-season records including marks for points (162 in 2003), receptions by a running back (74 in 2003) and yards from scrimmage (2,287 in 2002).

• His 8,172 rushing yards are the most by any undrafted player since the AFL-NFL merger.

• Piled up 500 points with the Chiefs, the third-highest tally in team history.

• Registered 66 total TDs over a three-year period from 2002-04, the second-highest total in NFL history over a three-year span.

• His 48 rushing TDs from 2002-03 established the best two-year total in league annals in that category.

• Ranks 14th in NFL lore with 86 career rushing TDs.

• Registered three or more rushing TDs in nine games during his NFL career, just one shy of the league mark held by Hall of Fame RB Jim Brown (10).

• Ranks fourth in team history among running backs with 2,377 receiving yards, only 453 yards short of FB Kimble Anders’ team record (2,829).

• Stands second in Kansas City history with 8,447 yards from scrimmage, a mark he held until TE Tony Gonzalez (9,414) overtook him in 2006.

• From 2001-06, no running back in the league averaged more yards from scrimmage per game than Holmes (136.0) or rushing yards per game (97.3).

• Racked up a franchise-record 2,287 yards from scrimmage in 2002 alone, the ninth-highest seasonal mark in NFL history.

• Owns 31 career regular season 100-yard rushing games, including 24 with KC, a mark that ranks second in Chiefs history behind RB Larry Johnson.

• Ranks 35th on the NFL’s all-time rushing yardage chart with 8,172 yards.

• Became the only player in Chiefs history to compile three or more 1,000-yard rushing campaigns, when he topped the mark in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

• Piled up 1,420 rushing yards in 2003 after setting a franchise record and earning NFL Offensive Player of the Year honors from the Associated Press with a 1,615-yard effort in just 14 games in 2002.

• Led the NFL in rushing with 1,555 yards in 2001.

• Owns Chiefs records for rushes of 10+ yards in a career (190), season (53 in 2002) and game (10 at Oakland 12/9/01).

• Is the only player in franchise annals to register two 100-yard double-doubles (100 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving).

• Registered five career 100-yard receiving games in a KC uniform.

• Set a KC single-season record for RBs with 74 catches for 690 yards in ‘03.

• A former rookie free agent with Baltimore, Holmes became the first Ravens runner to ever post a 1,000-yard season with 1,008 yards in ‘98.

• Earned a Super Bowl XXXV ring with Baltimore in 2000.

• Was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week six times, getting that honor five times with the Chiefs and once with the Ravens.

• Named AFC Offensive Player of the Month in October of 2002 and 2004.

• Played in five postseason games (two starts), amassing 42 carries for 221 yards (5.3 avg.) with two TDs.

• Saw action in four postseason games with the Ravens including a start in Super Bowl XXXV vs. the N.Y. Giants (1/28/01).

**springchief** · 11-21-2007, 11:16 PM

I have been out of the loop the past few days - 2 sick kids, sick husband, HUGE event at work... and I did NOT know about Priest's retirement until I read it minutes ago on here.

I just don't know what to say. I am sooooooooooo sad.

I know I started the thread about being happy that LJ is on the sidelines and honestly, my feeling has not changed just because of Priest's retirement.

I think that LJ WANTS the respect that people give to Priest, but he hasn't earned it... at least not yet. Success is not measured by ONE GOOD YEAR. It is measured by a CAREER of great playing and giving yourself for the betterment of the TEAM. LJ sure aint about TEAM; he is about LJ.

If we lose every game and LJ pulls his head outta his butt and realizes how FORTUNATE he is to get PAID (and quite nicely) to play his favorite game, and comes out next year fired up then it is worth it. I just can't handle anymore whining from him.

He gets another chance to play, Priest doesn't. He needs to realize how fortunate he is.

By the way, I didn't have time to read alllll the posts on this, so forgive me if I am repeating someone else's points.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!!!!!!!
Cindy