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According to ESPN.com's Jane McManus, that's something we should all get used to.
“I've been limited all season and I'm pretty sure that's the way it's going to be until the end of the season,” Holmes said. “To continue managing the performance in practice so I can perform on Sunday.”
Which, as McManus pointed out, doesn't always happen.
In fact, McManus believes it may be time to face what is becoming a apparent; that Holmes isn't all the way back from a Lisfranc injury that required two surgeries in the offseason, or from a hamstring injury that contributed to missing a five-game stretch by Week 10 of the season.
“Both of those things are being treated round the clock really still,” offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. “He's in a situation where he practices on certain days and doesn't on certain days. And so we're still in that mode.”
Holmes returned last Sunday against the Bills, when he played in 53 percent of the snaps. That is significantly less than his usual workload, and well below David Nelson (83 percent), Stephen Hill (88 percent) and tight end Jeff Cumberland (81 percent).
To date, Holmes has 12 catches for 314 yards, and it doesn't look like he'll be ramping that up any time soon.
Indeed, as the season plays out, the chances lessen that Holmes regains his 2009 form, when he gained 1,248 yards for Pittsburgh, or even his 2010 production for the Jets after being suspended for the first four games of the season. That year, Holmes had 746 yards but helped the Jets reach the AFC championship game.
Things have changed since then.
McManus notes that Holmes is still one of the best options currently for the Jets at that position, but clearly they need to see more progress out of the wide receiver if he's going to be part of the team's future.
The more immediate question for fantasy owners is how long the list of guys you'd play ahead of Holmes is. Our list is here. We have him as a WR3, but he's lumped in a large group of players in similar situations (meaning former high-end producers -- I'm talking about you Dwayne Bowe and Mike Wallace -- who are falling short).
Geno Smith's ups and downs aren't helping.