While all seems harmonious on the exterior with the Jets, there are some internal issues heating up and getting ready to boil.
Namely, new contracts for the Jets’ core players, beginning with cornerback Darrelle Revis, who said yesterday that management “promised” him a new contract before the start of the regular season.
Revis, speaking in between offseason conditioning sessions yesterday at the Jets’ Florham Park, N.J., facility, didn’t come out and threaten to hold out of training camp, but he dropped this hint: “We’ll figure it out when [the start of camp] comes.”
Revis said he “believes [the Jets] at their word.” But he quickly added, “When you go back on your word it’s a problem.”
Entering the fourth season of a six-year deal, Revis is due to make only $1 million in base salary in 2010 despite finishing second in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting and starting in the Pro Bowl.
Revis and his teammates are due to report to their Cortland training camp site on Aug. 1.
“We have a bunch of months to get things done,” Revis said. “I trust [Jets management] . . . but I also know this is a business as well.”
An NFL source told The Post yesterday that Revis’ agent, Neil Schwartz, was meeting with Jets management yesterday, but no new contract is imminent.
Revis said the talks to date between the Jets and his agent are “preliminary,” adding, “It’s in the process.”
Revis, as well as center Nick Mangold and linebacker David Harris, both in the final year of their respective contracts, are all cognizant of the harsh business side of the game.
Their attention has been particularly piqued in the wake of what happened to running back Leon Washington, who was not given a new contract before last season when he pushed for one and then broke his leg in Week 6.
Washington subsequently was given away last month to the Seahawks in a draft-day trade for a fifth-round pick.
“It’s a sense of security for me,” Mangold said. “I don’t want to blow out a knee or do anything else drastic and not be able to continue on the way I want to. It’s a big thing of having security coming into this year. I’d love to get something done before the season.”
Harris said Washington was “a great Pro Bowl player and he had a freak injury. You never want to be in a situation like that. Everyone wants a sense of stability, so you don’t have to worry about that.”
Mangold, in the fifth year of his five-year contract, surely has taken note of the seven-year, $56 million deal Saints guard Jahri Evans recently signed.
Harris, entering the fourth year of his four-year contract, is aware of the five-year, $50 million contract signed by 49ers linebacker Patrick Harris. Both players entered the league the same year.
Revis, Mangold, Harris, left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson and other core players also took notice of the Jets’ release of left guard Alan Faneca, despite the fact he was coming off his ninth consecutive Pro Bowl.
The business side of the NFL is cold, harsh reality and these players, beginning with Revis, seem prepared to fend for themselves.
Mangold said yesterday he’s “not too concerned” with how his contract situation will play out, saying he “expects” the issue to be resolved.
“We’re moving forward with the process,” he said.
Mangold said he is “confident” he’ll be treated fairly, adding, “I’ve done everything that I could from when I was drafted to where we are now. I’ve done it the right way and done everything I can. So I expect the Jets are going to do the same. Maybe I’m foolish, but I assume something is going to get done.”
You could make the argument that Washington was foolish for thinking the Jets were going to take care of him for outperforming his original contract — something Revis and Mangold certainly have done.
The Jets, by policy, do not comment on contract negotiations, so general manager Mike Tannenbaum was not available to address these issues.