There is no indication Darrelle Revis will report to training camp by tomorrow. Such a move will cost him a year of service time and delay his own free agency by a year. That is a good indication the corner and his team have dug in and will continue to fight the Jets. A move such as this indicates the Revis camp believes it will either get a desired deal with the Jets or force a trade to a team that will meet its demands. It is quite a chip to throw down.
We can debate this all day. Perhaps my own message throughout this saga has seemed contradictory. Allow me to clarify. I understand Revis' perspective. He is the best defensive player in the league at the moment. He has every right to be paid as such. It doesn't make him a bad person. One might argue it would not be in the Jets' best interest to give in to his demands, but that is not his problem. The earning potential of players is short in this league. One might say he should honor his original contract, but teams are not forced to honor his deal. If he broke his leg this year and played like Drew Coleman, the Jets wouldn't hesitate to dump him. If he can find another team willing to give him what he wants, he can pursue it. As a fan, this isn't what I want, but again that's my problem, not his. Look at the deals vastly inferior corners like Nate Clements and Asante Samuel got on the open market. Is it really THAT crazy to suggest Darrelle could land $15 million?
It might not be the smartest course of action, though. Just because one has the right to do something doesn't mean it's the smartest course of action. The Jets have a chance to be a very special team with Revis. Opportunities to play on a champion do not come around often for most players in the league. The teams most likely to allocate the percentage of payroll to one player that is in the realm of Revis' demands are bad teams. It takes a poorly run team to give one player too much. Almost inevitably in sports players who chase every last dollar on losing teams regret it and want out. It is true throughout sports from Alex Rodriguez to Albert Haynesworth.
Revis doesn't seem to have good handlers. We've seen that first hand here on GGN to a degree, but his best friend saying something he shouldn't on Twitter is small potatoes. This seems to start from the top. Part of the problem seems to be the lack of somebody to whom he will listen to provide a different perspective. A lot of athletes get the world handed to them at a young age and never have anybody stand up to them. The lack of such an authority figure to prevent LeBron James from embarking upon his disastrous ESPN special is an obvious example. Nobody is telling Darrelle about how he might regret missing out on a great career with his team by taking a slightly lesser deal.
Losing Revis would hurt the Jets on the field a lot. The team could still be successful. Antonio Cromartie and Kyle Wilson still would have the potential to be an excellent duo, but the team would have to take a different defensive approach. Revis gives this defense a unique dimension. It's almost impossible for most teams to easily take away an opposing elite receiver. Doing so requires double coverage or at least safety help. The Jets could do that with one man. That freed up another player to provide coverage help elsewhere or rush the quarterback. It was like giving the team an extra defender.
This situation is no longer a minor concern. Revis seems intent to play the bad hand he has all the way to the finish. It's a shame. It will hurt him. It will hurt the team. Most of all, it will hurt the fans.