NFL

Santonio takes seat at Jets practice, says OTA workload too much

Santonio Holmes famously spent the final two minutes of the Jets 2011 season watching from the bench. Yesterday, he finished on the sideline again.

Holmes pulled himself out of the Jets’ final organized team activity (OTA) after feeling overworked. The star wide receiver missed four of the team’s OTAs while on a goodwill mission to visit a U.S. Air Force base in Germany. He returned this week, but said he is not in the same condition as other players.

Toward the end of the two-hour practice, Holmes walked off the field, tossed his helmet and appeared upset. He spoke with wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal and trainer John Mellody and spent the final portion of practice watching alongside Mellody.

“I was talking to the coach, letting him understand it was too many reps today,” Holmes said. “I’ve been gone for a while, so I can’t be at full tempo like the rest of the guys and where they want us to be at.”

At first it appeared like Holmes might have tweaked something, but he said he did not injure himself. He looked disgusted as he walked off the field, and when he spoke to reporters later he said the workload was simply too much. Holmes said he was scheduled to participate in 35 snaps, but he stopped after 20-25.

Jets coach Rex Ryan said he did not have a problem with Holmes coming out. Ryan seemed to indicate that Holmes might have felt some tightness in one of his legs.

“Any time a player has tightness or whatever, then we are not here to push you over, ‘Oh, you can do that,’ ’’ Ryan said. “These are professional athletes. They know their bodies. Santonio knows his body better than anybody, obviously. So, if he thinks he would be stretching it to give another five, 10 snaps, then you have to be smart about that, and that’s really with any of those veteran players.”

Holmes’ exit from practice would not have been as newsworthy if not for how his 2011 season ended. He was benched in Miami during the Jets season-ending loss to the Dolphins after fighting on the field with teammates. Holmes watched from the bench as the final two minutes of the Jets’ season ticked away.

The Jets held nine voluntary OTAs and Holmes missed four of them while visiting Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany with the USO.

“Right now I’m at OTA five and the team is at OTA nine or 10 or somewhere around there,” Holmes said. “I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

Holmes will get a chance to do some catching up at Mark Sanchez’s “Jets West” camp next month in California. Holmes said this week that he will attend after skipping last year’s camp because he was an unrestricted free agent.

“Being out there I think is going to give the younger guys a sense of security knowing that we have our veteran, we have our leader here with us who’s going to be here helping us, getting on the same page, doing the same thing,” Holmes said. “At the same time, it’s going to be a great chemistry builder.”

brian.costello@nypost.com