Days are turning into mere hours now before the Jets report to training camp Sunday at SUNY Cortland, and the Darrelle Revis situation does not appear to be close to being resolved.
This is not a good omen for a productive and harmonious start to camp.
According to people close to the team’s Pro Bowl cornerback, if the Jets are preparing to call Revis’ bluff on holding out of camp, they’d better prepare for him to be a no-show.
According to more than one person close to him, Revis has not yet made a final decision about whether to hold out, but he’s leaning heavily in that direction if the Jets continue to ignore his issue.
“I wouldn’t do that,” one confidant of Revis’ told The Post yesterday, warning the Jets not to call his bluff.
When asked if there was any possibility of Revis playing under his existing contract, which is scheduled to pay him $1 million this year, the person said, “That’s not going to happen.”
According to league sources, as of yesterday, the Jets had not reached out to Revis’ representatives in an effort to sort things out. The Jets believe that Revis is under contract and he should honor that contract.
It seems that the Jets are waiting for Revis to make the next move, almost daring him to hold out.
If he does hold out there are significant consequences — issues that Revis is still mulling with family members, including his uncle, former NFL defensive lineman Sean Gilbert.
The moment Revis holds out, the $20 million he’s due to make in 2011 and 2012 (if the team exercises a two-year buyback after this season) would go from guaranteed to non-guaranteed salary.
That, of course, would enable them to hold the hammer over Revis should he suffer a bad injury.
According to friends of Revis, one of the primary problems he has with playing for a $1 million this year (which will make him the eighth-highest paid defensive back on the team for 2010) is risking what happened to former Jets running back Leon Washington last year.
Washington never got the contract he was seeking in 2009, then suffered a compound leg fracture during the season and was traded away for a fifth-round draft pick in April.
Revis is very close to Washington and, according to one of his friends, “Leon’s situation is very much on Darrelle’s mind.”
Should Revis hold out, he’ll be subject to a $16,000-per-day fine.
Though Revis’ representatives have been mum on what they are asking from the Jets, Revis has made it known that he wants to be the highest-paid cornerback in the league, which would mean an average of more than the $15.3 million per the Raiders’ Nnamdi Asomugha is making.
However, someone close to Revis told The Post his camp would be satisfied (for the moment, at least) if the Jets came to them with a temporary solution to help out his low 2010 salary.
It’s believed if the Jets bumped Revis’ 2010 salary to $10 million and kept the last two years the way they are for now that would be enough to sate him until he can work out a longer-term deal later.