CORTLAND — The ball that was tossed from Revis Island to the Jets’ front office in the form of a contract proposal Friday was emphatically swatted away by the team yesterday, the way Revis would bat away a pass thrown his way in a game.
While there’s surely posturing on both sides, the thunderclap of news could mean the Jets play the season without their disgruntled star cornerback.
It’s a possibility the Jets are now preparing for.
“My impression is no progress,” a gloomy owner Woody Johnson said yesterday. “The way it was characterized to me by [GM] Mike [Tannenbaum] is . . . there’s no movement whatsoever.”
ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap, on his Twitter page last night, said: “Interviewed NYJ owner Woody Johnson today. When asked will Revis play this season for the Jets, he said, ‘My gut feeling is, I would say no.”
Johnson, who according to Tannenbaum looked over Revis’ proposal himself, said it offered “nothing new and different” than what the two sides had been discussing earlier.
Asked if he’s “optimistic” a deal will “get done before the season, Johnson glumly said: “The answer is no.”
The latest twist in the Revis saga played out throughout yesterday, as, early in the day, reps for the Pro Bowl corner revealed they had met with Tannenbaum on Friday and delivered a written proposal they wanted Johnson to see.
“We met with Mike Tannenbaum on Friday, gave him a written proposal and asked him to give it to Mr. Johnson,” Revis’ agent, Neil Schwartz, told The Post. “We are now waiting for their response.”
Later in the day, both Johnson and Tannenbaum addressed the issue, sounding like the proposal was rejected on the spot.
“I think they had a pretty good sense of where we were at when we left,” Tannenbaum said.
Addressing reporters following the afternoon practice, Johnson and Tannenbaum sounded as if they were prepared to play the season without Revis — echoing what coach Rex Ryan had said earlier in the day.
Tannenbaum said the proposal Revis’ agents made — which was a long-term contract — wasn’t much different from the parameters they’d already been talking about.
“There were some technical changes to it, but fundamentally there really hasn’t been a change, and right now we can’t find something that works for both sides so we have no progress.
“We still have a very fundamental difference of opinion of what the appropriate compensation should be and until we get that solved there really isn’t much to discuss,” he said.
But Revis’ representatives believe there is, indeed, something to discuss. They declined to be specific about the proposal, though Schwartz told The Post he believes “it addressed” what he believed were “Mr. Johnson’s concerns.”
It’s believed that part of the proposal included fully guaranteed money in the form of a signing bonus that could be deferred.
Asked if the three-year, $45.3 million deal the Raiders gave Nnamdi Asomugha has been a problem, Tannenbaum conceded, “That contract is a significant issue in our deal, but not the only one.”
The Revis camp is looking at some other cornerbacks out there who have been compensated well above Revis.
For example, Denver’s Champ Bailey is due to make $13 million this season and rookie defensive backs Joe Haden (Cleveland) and Eric Berry (Kansas City) signed contracts that average out to about $10 million a year and they’ve never played a down in the NFL.
Meantime, Revis is being fined more than $16,500 per day and already is out some $148,500 for the nine he’s already missed.
“We have to prepare like he’s not going to be here,” Ryan said. “If he comes through the door, that’s fine. Somebody will kiss him on the lips, probably. My thing is, I’m just coaching this group.
“That’s all we can focus on right now, is getting this team ready. We can only coach who is here, and that’s what we’re doing. The guys that are here, those are the guys we’re getting ready for the season.”