Darrelle Revis to Tampa Bay: Reactions to the Trade

Sept 23, 2012; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis (24) walks off the field with team medical staff after suffering a knee injury in the second half in a game against the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Revis reportedly will miss the rest of the season. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

Now it’s for real, the picture to the right is the last time we will ever see Darrelle Revis in a Jets’ uniform. The Darrelle Revis era has come to an unfortunate, yet expected end. If you haven’t heard the figures yet, Darrelle signed a 6 year, $96 million contract with Tampa Bay, effectively completing the trade. The Jets, in the trade, received Tampa’s first round pick in the upcoming draft, #13 overall, and a conditional 3rd or 4th round pick in 2014.

Let’s talk about it a little. Am I happy that Darrelle Revis will be looking across the line of scrimmage at Mark Sanchez, instead of watching him from the sideline? Of course not. If it were possible, I would have been happy to have Darrelle on our team until he hung up his cleats. But, it couldn’t happen. Someone used the term “necessary evil” to describe trading Darrelle Revis. Absolutely on point. Because of his monetary demands, he couldn’t stay. Not if we were going to put together a good team long term.

As far as the results of the trade, John Idzik did a good job overall. I know a lot of people are upset that they only are receiving two picks, as opposed to three. I thought that at first, but you have to take into account the injury. Three picks are a lot for a guy that the Bucs would be taking basically sight unseen. They could work him out all they like, but they won’t know how ready to go he really is until he hits the field week one. The fact that John was able to hold out long enough to get the 13th pick overall included, as well as a draft pick next year, is a great job. He got as much value as possible for Darrelle Revis.

Looking back, this end has been inevitable since the first holdout. You could see the relationship between the Jets and Revis going south during the production of “Hard Knocks”. Between how long his the situation was drawn out, the disputes you saw on camera, it was the beginning of the end. And there is a lot of blame to go around here, both on Darrelle’s side, and the Jets side.

August 30, 2012; Philadelphia, PA, USA; New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis (24) shown on the sidelines against the Philadelphia Eagles during the second quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

When Darrelle entered the league in 2006, we didn’t even think about any of this. Remember? There was no talk of money, holdouts, value…etc. Under Eric Mangini, Darrelle Revis came to work and did his job, and we all went about our lives. Nothing about this ever came across our lips.

So, what changed? Eric Mangini out, Rex Ryan in. That’s what changed. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rex Ryan just as much as anyone. But from day one Rex Ryan made a mistake with Darrelle. His mistake was constantly talking about how great Darrelle was. We all knew it, we didn’t have to hear him say it. The problem with him saying it?

Darrell began to believe it. It’s human nature. If someone tells you how great you are at something, eventually, you are going to believe it. The more he heard it, the more he believed it, and thought the team owed him everything. He became Revis the business, rather than Revis the football player. Henceforth, the first holdout, the deterioration of the relationship until the expected end, today.

And then, you have the “Band-Aid” contract signed during the Hard Knocks holdout. If you remember, Tanny basically acknowledged that it was an interim step on the road to a long-term contract for Darrelle. But that never happened, and it didn’t seem that the Jets were ever to keen on signing that deal. Whether there was dishonesty there or not, there was something there. Both sides had trouble with the other, and the relationship became so marred it couldn’t be fixed.

So much so, Darrelle actually signed a contract with zero guaranteed money, to be in a better situation for himself than being with us.

So bottom line, the trade had to happen. Both sides treated each other poorly, and it led to the ultimate relationship end, divorce. To follow that analogy, it wasn’t an amicable divorce, but the judge made the terms of separation acceptable to both parties, and one party is free to go after relationships in Florida, while the other party stays to pick up the pieces.

John Idzik got what he could for Darrelle. That’s all we could ask for.

Tomorrow, we will look back at Darrelle’s career in New York.