All right, so Darrelle Revis was back at the Jets’ training facility yesterday, taking part in organized team activities five days after skipping Thursday’s session as a form of protest against the glacial pace of contract talks.
Revis’ presence yesterday, however, doesn’t mean everything is all right.
Nor does it mean Revis will attend next week’s June 14-16 mandatory minicamp (the OTAs are voluntary).
The fact that negotiations between Revis’ reps and the Jets are about as close as the Jets are to selling out their stadium PSLs might not be anything to panic about at the moment considering that training camp is still more than a month and a half away.
But two significant issues have arisen from this situation — and they bear watching:
* Amid sluggish PSL sales, you can’t help but wonder if owner Woody Johnson is skittish about spending on players. The Jets are some 10,000 seats short of a PSL sellout.
* An undercurrent of acrimony is beginning to take form, and it also includes center Nick Mangold, who’s entering the final year of his original contract and has been dropping hints of a potential training-camp holdout.
Make no mistake, there are a lot of players inside a Jets locker room already agitated about the unceremonious offseason release of popular workhorse running back Thomas Jones. They are closely monitoring the goings-on between the front office and Revis.
Revis is revered in that room, not only as a leader but as the best cornerback in the league — and, outside of Mark Sanchez, the team’s most important player.
The Jets have made moves that show fans they’re serious about winning now, with the acquisitions of receivers Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes, cornerback Antonio Cromartie and linebacker Jason Taylor.
They gave linebacker Bart Scott some $22 million in guarantees when they signed him as a free agent before last season.
Yet what about home-grown players such as Revis, Mangold, linebacker David Harris (also entering the final year of his contract) and tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson (who has two more years on his)?
The argument that should be made to Johnson — if indeed he’s reluctant about freeing GM Mike Tannenbaum to start writing checks to the team’s core players — is that he start investing in the team’s on-the-field future considering the long-term commitment he’s asking his fans to make with the PSL purchases.
The Jets cannot afford to mess with the likes of Revis and Mangold or they’ll risk alienating the rest of the locker room.
Revis, hailed by Ryan as not only the best cornerback but the best defensive player in the league, wants to be paid that way. That means he needs to make some $16 million a year with guarantees upward of $30 million.
Sources told The Post the Jets’ last offer to Revis included no guaranteed money. Preposterously, that’s $28 million less guaranteed money than the Raiders gave cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha.
Johnson needs to make the same kind of long-term commitment to the product he’ll be putting on the field.
That means, beginning with Revis, locking the team’s core players up with new, long-term contracts before more potential team-fracturing acrimony ensues.