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New Jersey – The Jets aren’t doing anything wrong in their handling of the Darrelle Revis’ scenario. They need to handle this situation on their timeline, not Neil Schwartz’s. . . .
I keep reading where the Jets are are in a bad spot here, painted in a corner, if you will.
I’m sorry, I don’t agree.
Think about it – if they get low-balled in trade talks, and keep Revis, what a great consolation prize – they have the best cornerback tandem in football, which would probably lead them to a few wins.
Remember, if Revis stays, even if he is disgruntled, he has to play his butt off to get that next contract.
If he has a bad year, he isn’t going to make the big money he’s looking for. That one-year deal Nnamdi Asomugha just signed in San Fran for $3 million has to scare Revis and his camp. Granted Asomugha (31) is three years older than Revis, but still, with the new CBA and a bad economy, NFL owners are pulling in the purse strings.
So if Revis stays with the Jets, he needs to play lights out football in 2013, even if he doesn’t want to be here.
Well, what if Revis gets a mysterious injury, something that Schwartz camp has been known to pull out of his playbook. See Revis, Pete Kendall and Chris Baker.
Well, how will that kind of attitude impress potential suitors next off-season? And, also, Revis needs to show he can stay healthy coming off the knee, and also hamstring issues in previous seasons.
Look, it’s probably best for the Jets to trade him if they can get an impressive bundle of draft picks in return, but in order to do that, they have got to keep up the veneer that they are willing to keep him.
Teams can’t be under the impression that they are willing to give him away because they want to get rid of the headache.
So of course he should have to report to their off-season program to honor his contract. If they let him stay in Arizona, when his teammates report next week, what kind of message would that send to potential suitors – he’s outta here.
The Jets have to make Tampa Bay (or another suitor we aren’t aware of) sweat a little – make them think – they are willing to keep the player, which I honestly think they are, if they get low-balled in trade talks. They will not give away Revis.
Also, it would be good for the Jets to check out his knee, see how he’s progressing.
The Jets have a few options here – keep him this year and have the best cornerback combo in football, and then if he leaves, they will get a third round compensatory draft pick.
They can trade him during the summer to a desperate team that perhaps loses a starting cornerback to a serious injury in the summer.
Or they could trade him at the trade deadline, to a team in dire need of a #1 corner. Remember, the Carson Palmer trade to Oakland was before the deadline, and the Bengals got a lot in return.
“The Jets’ curious handling of Darrelle Revis took another bizarre turn less than three weeks before the NFL draft,” wrote Manish Mehta in the Daily News today.
I respectfully disagree with Manish. I don’t think it’s bizarre at all.
It’s good business.
Idzik is a cool customer – a good poker player. He’s been in the business a long time, and has been involved in a lot of stare downs with agents and players.
This isn’t his first rodeo.
He’s not going to cave, even in the midst of one of Schwartz’s scorched-earth campaigns.
April 7, 2013
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