By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

MEQUON, Wis. – For as long as anyone would listen, Torry Holt has made it clear that when he believes it’s his time to walk away from football he would do it.

Now, as Holt hits a decade of football in his NFL career, he’s facing the prospect of balancing his past with his future.

“This is my 10th season,” Holt said.  “My goal was to get to ten years in the National Football League.  It is a very, very important year for me.  That has been the motivating factor.  My thing was I wanted to get, when I came into the National Football League, I wanted to get ten years of consistency.”

In the litany of superlatives used to describe Holt throughout what has quietly been one of the most substantial and productive careers by any receiver in league history, perhaps none is more fitting than consistency.

Holt isn’t just simply consistent, he embodies it. While most receivers such as Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens are regularly described as cocky or arrogant, Holt stays consistent. When it comes to Holt it carries almost a gentlemanly quality, a word representative of his relentless work ethic and infectious enthusiasm.

Of course, the numbers bear out the deScription better than any intangible qualities.

Consider the following:

-In the eight seasons since his rookie season, Holt has never posted less than 1,188 receiving yards. In that span, Holt became the fastest player to reach 11,000 receiving yards, the second fastest to reach 700 receptions and the only player in NFL history to record six consecutive 1,300-yard seasons.

-Entering the 2008 season, Holt is the all time league leader in receiving yards per game with 83.5 and has already cracked the top 20 in catches and receiving yards.

-Since the 2000 season, Holt leads all NFL receivers in yards (11,076) and catches (753).

Assuming Holt can continue his death and taxes like performance, he is on schedule to reach rarefied air that only the likes of Jerry Rice has been able to breathe.

The question then becomes how much longer Holt wants to play and how much longer his knees will allow him to perform at his usual high level.

Entering the 2007 season, the Rams and Holt had made it a point to manage his right knee after he underwent offseason surgery.

Holt spent most of training camp working a few repetitions then sitting some more, even sitting out the second practice during many of the two a day workouts.

This season, though, Holt seems to be in much better stead than he was at this point a year ago.

“Sometimes I’m like ‘Yeah’ and sometimes I’m like ‘No’ and sometimes I’m like (forget) it,” Holt said.  “I’ve just got to do what I’ve got to do. But for the most part I am learning to listen to myself a lot more these days.”

For the most part, Holt is being allowed to self-regulate. The training staff and coach Scott Linehan are allowing Holt the leeway to determine when he’s good to go full speed and when he wants to take his reps.