Whether or not Santonio Holmes will return to the New York Jets next season remains to be seen, but one thing definitely is clear: He won't be a captain.
Neither will any other Jet, for that matter.
Coach Rex Ryan, sitting next to general manager Mike Tannenbaum, conceded Monday during his end-of-year news conference that he made a mistake and "sent the wrong message" by naming team captains.
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"This is something that I think I made a huge mistake in," Ryan said. "We're not going to have those anymore. We built a team, and I think that pulls away from the team a little bit."
Holmes' status as captain was called into question following his volatile actions in the week leading up to and during the Jets' Week 17 loss to the Miami Dolphins that kept them out of the playoffs for the first time in the Ryan era.
Holmes was benched by offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer during the fourth quarter of the game, and a team source told the New York Daily News that the wide receiver berated quarterback Mark Sanchez during a team meeting last week. Holmes then skipped a separate meeting the next day, the source said, and an unnamed player told the newspaper Monday that Holmes was "a cancer."
A source with knowledge of Holmes' contract told NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora that the receiver has $7 million guaranteed in 2012 for skill, injury and cap reasons that he would be owed if released. Ryan told reporters that he expects Holmes to return to the team next season.
"There's a lot of positive things about Santonio," Ryan said. "Are there some things that we need to get corrected? Absolutely."
Holmes and guard Brandon Moore went back and forth earlier this season when the receiver criticized the offensive line for not protecting Sanchez or giving him enough time to throw long passes. Moore said that kind of talk could have "a fracturing effect" -- and it appears he was right.
"There's a lot of reasons we didn't have the kind of season we wanted, and chemistry can go down on that list," Moore said.
He declined to discuss if the Jets could accept a player back next season who was deemed by some to have quit on his teammates.
"I don't really have anything to say about 10," Moore said, referring to Holmes by his jersey number.
Tannenbaum also confirmed an earlier La Canfora report that the Jacksonville Jaguars have asked permission to interview Schottenheimer. While Tannenbaum expressed confidence that Schottenheimer would return for a seventh season, Ryan was less certain, calling it a 50-50 chance.
"I think Brian will be a head coach in this league," Ryan said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
