League sources (whatever that means these days – could be a well respected NFL front office figure or could be Roger Goodell’s janitor) have told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that wide receiver Torry Holt has asked the Rams to release him.

The Rams have been trying to trade Holt for the past couple weeks but so far they haven’t found any takers. As the Post-Dispatch notes, Holt is due a $1.25 million roster bonus on March 17 and therefore it’s unlikely that he’ll be a Ram past that point.

If he remains patient for the next week and a half, Holt is likely to get his wish. But I don’t blame him for wanting to end the charade and have the team just release now so both parties can move on. It’s clear that Rams are moving in another direction at receiver and I think the team owes Holt a debt of gratitude for all he’s done over the years. If they’re going to wind up releasing him anyway (and they will – no team is going to trade for him knowing that he’ll be cut if they wait long enough), they should do him a favor and cut him now.

Holt will catch on with another team because he still wants to play. This isn’t a situation like Marvin Harrison, who has completely dropped off the face of the earth. Harrison’s main concern is to get paid and if no team is going to do that, then he’ll just retire. But Holt still has that flicker of fire burning in him and he’s likely to take a pay cut to sign with a contender in an effort to play in one last Super Bowl.

Wide receiver-needy teams are the Bears, Dolphins and maybe even the Cowboys now that they’ve released Terrell Owens. I could also see a team like the Bucs being interested in Holt after they were spurned by T.J. Houshmandzadeh.