Everyone just take a deep breath in. Now out. Now in. Now out. Are you relaxed? Good.
I'm here to try and reassure all of you that the Jets will work something out with Darrelle Revis sooner rather than later. You want to know why? Because the Jets need Darrelle Revis and I don't believe that Revis is crazy enough to miss a season of football.
Jets owner Woody Johnson has been less than optimistic about signing the Jets' top player Darrelle Revis. When Johnson was asked whether he thought Revis would be signed before the season started, his response was simple; "the answer is no."
But here's the thing; without Darrelle Revis, the Jets have absolutely no shot at a Super Bowl, and have to be underdogs to even win the division. You can try to tell me how good Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson are but I'm not buying it. Cromartie is still riding on his rookie Pro Bowl year which he had a mind-blowing 10 picks. He's been mediocre since, only able to pull down five picks the last two seasons combined. Then there's Kyle Wilson. Wilson looks like a great rookie, but remember the key part of that phrase is rookie. It's extremely difficult to learn the tendencies of receivers your first year in the league no matter how good you are. If Revis is out, Wilson would most likely be splitting time with Dwight Lowery, who has had a mediocre career so far. The word is however, that Lowery may move to safety in order to make room for Wilson. Sure, that's an alright cornerback situation when you're going against most teams, but when the Jets play teams like the Colts or the Patriots, it won't do. The Jets will need Revis to step up and shut down the top dog, or else there would just be too many different receivers to worry about. To put it simply, the Jets need Darrelle Revis in the secondary.
No one knows that more than Woody Johnson. That's exactly why he's telling the public that Revis won't be playing. He knows that fans are more likely to side with the team's best player than the owner, so he's trying to get the fans on his side, citing Revis' selfishness. Another thing he's trying to do, by telling the media that there's no chance he'll sign Revis or bow down to Revis' commands, is getting the upper hand in negotiations and not showing any weakness early on. No owner or GM is going to accept an athlete's first proposal, and with a number like $16 million floating around for probably around 10 years, there will be some strict negotiations. Johnson is just negotiating publicly and trying to get Revis to move down just a little.
Personally, I think that a deal is going to get done. But it'll be the Jets that will have to cave a little bit before Revis does. Darrelle Revis is the best cornerback in the NFL and arguably the best defensive player in the NFL. This is no bum asking for a raise, this is the best player on the team asking to be paid, quite frankly, the money he deserves. The Jets need Darrelle Revis more than Darrelle Revis needs the Jets. With so much hype surrounding the team this year, and all the Super Bowl talk, if the Jets don't sign Revis soon, then further into the season, both the team and the fans will regret it, when the Jets don't have the secondary to take on the giants of the AFC.
I'm here to try and reassure all of you that the Jets will work something out with Darrelle Revis sooner rather than later. You want to know why? Because the Jets need Darrelle Revis and I don't believe that Revis is crazy enough to miss a season of football.
Jets owner Woody Johnson has been less than optimistic about signing the Jets' top player Darrelle Revis. When Johnson was asked whether he thought Revis would be signed before the season started, his response was simple; "the answer is no."
But here's the thing; without Darrelle Revis, the Jets have absolutely no shot at a Super Bowl, and have to be underdogs to even win the division. You can try to tell me how good Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson are but I'm not buying it. Cromartie is still riding on his rookie Pro Bowl year which he had a mind-blowing 10 picks. He's been mediocre since, only able to pull down five picks the last two seasons combined. Then there's Kyle Wilson. Wilson looks like a great rookie, but remember the key part of that phrase is rookie. It's extremely difficult to learn the tendencies of receivers your first year in the league no matter how good you are. If Revis is out, Wilson would most likely be splitting time with Dwight Lowery, who has had a mediocre career so far. The word is however, that Lowery may move to safety in order to make room for Wilson. Sure, that's an alright cornerback situation when you're going against most teams, but when the Jets play teams like the Colts or the Patriots, it won't do. The Jets will need Revis to step up and shut down the top dog, or else there would just be too many different receivers to worry about. To put it simply, the Jets need Darrelle Revis in the secondary.
No one knows that more than Woody Johnson. That's exactly why he's telling the public that Revis won't be playing. He knows that fans are more likely to side with the team's best player than the owner, so he's trying to get the fans on his side, citing Revis' selfishness. Another thing he's trying to do, by telling the media that there's no chance he'll sign Revis or bow down to Revis' commands, is getting the upper hand in negotiations and not showing any weakness early on. No owner or GM is going to accept an athlete's first proposal, and with a number like $16 million floating around for probably around 10 years, there will be some strict negotiations. Johnson is just negotiating publicly and trying to get Revis to move down just a little.
Personally, I think that a deal is going to get done. But it'll be the Jets that will have to cave a little bit before Revis does. Darrelle Revis is the best cornerback in the NFL and arguably the best defensive player in the NFL. This is no bum asking for a raise, this is the best player on the team asking to be paid, quite frankly, the money he deserves. The Jets need Darrelle Revis more than Darrelle Revis needs the Jets. With so much hype surrounding the team this year, and all the Super Bowl talk, if the Jets don't sign Revis soon, then further into the season, both the team and the fans will regret it, when the Jets don't have the secondary to take on the giants of the AFC.
Is it at least a little bit selfish that he is sitting out of camp? Yes. Is a 10 year deal for $160 million a little too much to ask, as opposed to a shorter, smaller deal? Arguably. But I have no problem with Revis telling Jets ownership that with all that he does for the team, he deserves a pay raise, and quite frankly, deserves to be the top-paid corner in the league. Although the $16.5 million annual salary that he's asking for is a bit steep, so is the price the Jets pay by losing him. Revis shut down T.O. twice last year (T.O. had 13 and 31 receiving yards in two games against Revis), he shut down Randy Moss twice last year (Moss had 24 yards and 34 receiving yards in two games against Revis), he shut down Chad Ochocinco (Ochocinco went without a reception in one game against Revis), he shut down Andre Johnson (Johnson had 35 receiving yards in one game against Revis), he shut down Steve Smith (Smith had 5 receiving yards in one game against Revis) and he shut down so many more. Do you get the picture? No one gets past this guy. Revis knows that better than anyone else, and he knows that the Jets take a big hit without him, so the Jets shouldn't be expecting him to reach out to them anytime soon.
In football, one of the tougher sports around, contracts are not guaranteed and therefore if you get injured there's no way for you to make money. More and more players are getting contracts with some of their money guaranteed up front, but still, the whole contract is never guaranteed. Revis is trying to protect himself in case he gets injured, in asking for guaranteed money, something which the Jets have reportedly offered him none of so far. It's tough to tell if Revis will be willing to take his number down a bit if a substantial amount of his contract is guaranteed, or if he would be willing to go for a shorter deal because he has shut all media out, but it's tough to see him missing the season, when he could be getting paid $12 million a year.
Last time I checked, the Jets were a 9-7 team that lost to the likes of the Dolphins (twice), the Bills and the Jaguars last year. Sure they had a great playoff run, but until I see them play in the regular season I'm cautiously optimistic. I've said before that this team has the potential to win it all, but the team's management shouldn't start thinking that they're hot stuff too soon. You gotta walk the walk before you can talk the talk. I certainly hope and believe that Woody Johnson and Mike Tannenbaum are just trying to get Revis to back down a tad, but if they're actually serious about letting Revis sit out the season then they're in for a world of hurt. Once the team starts struggling, the New York media and fans will be on them like white on rice, and Revis will immediately have a huge upper hand in contract negotiations. So, Woody Johnson and Mike Tannenbaum are not only doing a favor for Darrelle Revis, the team and the fans by giving Revis the money he wants, they're also doing a favor to themselves.
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