Revis Officially A Holdout in Jets Camp

It’s a “Hard Knock(s)” life in Jets camp, and I’m thinking the team might regret opening up their camp to the exposure of the HBO show, when their best player is not in camp. And lets be fully honest here, Revis is by far their best player. While they succeeded last year due to new coaching, defense, and an impressive running game, Revis’s play stood out. If there was one single player the Jets couldn’t have lived without last season it was Darrell Revis. While they have made great strides on offense and defense this season, their Super Bowl dreams are very dependent on Revis being there every week.

While usually I don’t really support holdouts I can see where Revis is coming from here and am more surprised that the Jets haven’t already addressed this issue. All offseason we knew that Revis was unhappy and wanted a new deal, but I can’t believe it has come to a holdout. Especially since the team has worked out a new deal with D’Brickshaw Ferguson and extensions to both the head coach and general manager. Ferguson is a very good player, but he isn’t on the ‘one of a kind’ level of Revis. I think the Jets have dropped the ball here, and need to pick it up again before any lasting damage is done.

Now I don’t think Revis will get the $17+ million a year that he wants just yet (except on the open market), but the Jets at the very least should try to increase his compensation for the remainder of his current contract (3 years) and possibly try to tack on a 4th year. That way Revis gets paid, and the Jets possibly get an extra year. Even if Revis isn’t amenable to the extra year, adding some money to keep your star player happy is a pretty good idea. If they don’t or agree to a 1 year fix, this problem will return and eventually Revis will leave via free agency.

I realize this is a rough year with contract extensions and re-working contracts, but both the Broncos and 49ers took care of their star players and the Titans found a 1-year fix with Chris Johnson. Things can get done if the Jets want them to, they just need to get creative.

Right now there isn’t a defensive player more valuable in the league than Darrell Revis. And I’d take it a step further and say that outside of Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, I don’t know if there is another player more valuable to his team than Revis. And the Jets can talk about leverage all they want, but with the HBO show filming and them opening a new stadium this year (If you are going to charge $20K seat license you should probably pay your best player) the Jets need to make this work. My guess is it will get done within the next week, but it is a PR battle I don’t think the Jets are ready to win, so the sooner it ends the better for New York.