Darrelle Revis and the NY Jets both have to get a grip quickly. It’s understood that the NFL is a business, but how you conduct that business says a lot about the player and team involved.
Tom Brady and the Pats avoided any type of drama for 2013 because it was clear both sides were dealing on the up-and-up, without ego and with respect.
I get it that Revis believes he is the best in the game and he wants to be paid in full. I get that hearing trade rumors when you’re trying to rehab can hurt your feelings. Throughout Revis’ career with the Jets, however, he’s yet to show me that he’s a “team guy,” and of late, can’t stay on the field.
It’s hard to invest gwop in a cat who’s injury prone and is coming off major reconstructive knee surgery. At the same time, the Jets are yet to prove that they are past their self-destructive ways, and ready to be a consistent franchise run by astute individuals with a plan for establishing a lasting identity.
The Jets’ current identity has fans wearing paper bags to games. It’s been all downhill since the two AFC Championship runs in Mark Sanchez’s first two seasons. There’s been drama with diva receivers like Santonio Holmes. And of course, the slow deterioration of the D, the empty predictions, the fan finger-flipping and internet antics of HC Rex Ryan, and the nail-in-the-coffin move of bringing in Tim Tebow and wrecking Sanchez just for a few more headlines.
Revis has his priorities screwed up. He’s great, but you can’t cap cripple a squad, already $19.4 million over the cap, to get yours while insisting that you want to play on a winner.
The Jets are screwed up. It’s a match made on “Revis Island.” The only sure thing is that neither side is on the same page.
The Jets released themselves from the misery of GM Mike Tannenbaum and hired John Idzik. From his opening, double-talking press conference it was apparent that the Jets would be run the same old way. Idzik had no concrete answers and he appeared to be another Woody Johnson/Rex Ryan puppet. Hardly the leader the Jets front office needs to right the array of personnel blunders under the prior regime.
It was assumed Idzik would at least retain his top vets and create some stability in a rebuilding locker room. Instead, he gives little support to his temperamental franchise piece who is dealing with the psychological and physical effects of the worst injury of his life.
It gets out that the Jets are trying to shop Revis, all the while Ryan is whispering sweet nothings to the contrary. It takes a month for the Jets brass to publicly dismiss the rumors. I guess, after a deal couldn’t get done.
Maybe Revis knew from jump that NY wasn’t an organization to hitch his HOF-lock bandwagon to. Too many smoke-screens, not enough straight-talk. Maybe that’s why he’s always like, “it all comes down to money.”
Revis wasted no time shooting back on the trade rumors with San Fran.
“This hit home. This definitely hit home,” Revis told Seattle Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson during an interview at their off-season training facilities. “Especially being one of the best players out there and come to find out you’re getting shopped. Yeah, I mean, it really hits home. But it really doesn’t matter where I’ll be. I know what I can do.”
The Jets know too. Revis can wreck a game or shake up a locker room. In his rookie season, Revis missed the first 21 days of training camp while his agents negotiated his contract. In ’’08, he was dope, but in reality, the Jets’ pass defense still finished 28th. The next season (’09) was his “it’s a celebration bishes” coming out. Revis became a shutdown cyclone, wrapping up any all-pro receiver who came his way, and surrendering just one TD to Miami’s fleet-footed Ted Ginn Jr. in Week 5.
Revis’ sick season prompted Mr. Hyperbole Ryan to anoint him all-time Cornerback King in USA Today, during a vigorous defense of Revis’ loss to Charles Woodson for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
“This, in my opinion,” Ryan said, “was the best year a corner has ever had, the most impact a corner has ever had in the National Football League.”
In the process, Ryan obliterated any leverage the Jets might have held in future contract negotiations, and entering the ’10 season, Revis wants a new contract. The Jets play hardball from a position of weakness and look pretty idiotic to fans.
Revis holds out the majority of training camp and all preseason. Once Revis gets his four-year $32 million guaranteed contract, he, typically, (for a holdout) pulls a hammy against the Pats and missed a few weeks rehabbing it.
Revis came out sack-swinging again in ’12, hinting that he may not attend training camp without more scratch. He suffered a concussion, forcing him to miss a game and then he tore his ACL in week 3, ending his season and the Jets’ slim playoff hopes.
The Jets and Revis are back in a familiar place. Neither party has really lived up to their side of the bargain. They’re dancing and prancing, but not committing one way or the other.
Idzik has found time to let us know that Tim Tebow is still a possibility, but this Revis situation is spiraling out of control. Should they even keep him now? It’s good for fans to see, before the season even pops off, that the NY Jets circus is back in town. Let’s see how long it stays this time.
