Two years after a contentious holdout between Darrelle Revis and the Jets, the two sides look to be headed for Round 2.
Revis, appearing at a charity function in Manhattan last night, said he is unsure whether he will hold out of training camp this summer in hopes of renegotiating his deal.
”I just don’t know,” Revis said before being honored by the Big Brothers Big Sisters NYC. “I’m not saying I am going to hold out. I’m not saying I’m not going to hold out. I just don’t know. Right now my focus is being on the team.”
The Jets and the All-Pro cornerback Revis agreed to a four-year, $46 million contract in 2010 after a 35-day holdout. There has been speculation Revis would hold out, though, because the contract was viewed as a short-term fix and not a long-term solution by both sides. Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum even called it an “intermediate step” at the time. There might be some disagreement about how short-term the contract was intended to be.
Revis made $32.5 million over the past two years, but his compensation drops dramatically this year. He is scheduled to make $7.5 million in 2012 and $6 million in 2013. That is hardly the market value for the best cornerback in football.
The 26-year-old (he turns 27 in July) did not want to discuss his contract in depth at the charity event last night. Asked directly if he could rule out a holdout, he wouldn’t, though.
”I can’t sit here and say that,” he said. “Right now, it’s Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization. I can’t sit here and say I’m going to hold out because I don’t know. That time hasn’t come yet. That’s something we’re not thinking about right now. Right now we’re just thinking about me being a part of the team, being a leader for this team and getting ready for the season.”
The Jets tried to put a safeguard against another holdout in Revis’ deal, but it does not appear it will work. His pact actually is for seven years, but voids into a four-year deal if Revis does not miss any off-season team activities. Revis showed in 2010 he was willing to play hardball to get a deal done, and there is no reason to think he won’t risk test the Jets again.
Tannenbaum said he would not talk about Revis’ contract situation at a news conference last week.
”Darrelle’s under contract,” Tannenbaum said. “Darrelle’s obviously a really important part of our team. I look forward to the 2012 season and hopefully accomplishing a lot of great things together.”
Revis sounds as if he’s going to be ready to talk about it sooner than Tannenbaum is.
”My agents are going to do the best for me and try to do what’s best for me,” Revis said. “It’s my career and I’m in control of it what I can do. I know I’m under contract. We’ll hash that out when the time comes. I know things have come out and that’s that. If anything does happen in the future of me being here, I have two years left. If it’s for my future to be here, then it is. If it’s not, for me to be somewhere else, then it is. We’ll address that when the time comes.”