In an effort to not only further their brand but honor their history, the Jets have started a “Ring of Honor,” their own internal hall of fame, and it’ll include six of their biggest stars this year.
At a halftime ceremony of the Jets’ Aug. 16 preseason opener against the Giants in the new Meadowlands Stadium, Joe Namath, Curtis Martin, Joe Klecko, Don Maynard, Winston Hill and Weeb Ewbank will be enshrined in the “Ring of Honor.”
The six Jets will receive permanent recognition at all Jets home games in some form of signage in each end zone. Because the Jets and Giants share the stadium, the recognition of those six Jets honorees will be present only during Jets home games.
The Giants are believed to be planning a similar honor for their former stars but haven’t announced any details yet.
“This organization has always had a deep apprecia tion for and admiration of those who have worn this team’s uniform,” Jets owner Woody Johnson said. “These six men span generations of Jets foot ball, all embodying the best of this game and what it means to truly be a Jet. With this new stadium we now have a proper way to salute those who have helped make this franchise what it is today.”
The Ring of Honor inductees were selected by an internal committee led by Johnson. And each season, inductees will be nominated and added. There will be no minimum or maximum each year.
A replica of the Ring of Honor will also hang in the field house of the team’s practice facility and headquarters, the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.
The preseason opener, in addition to the Ring of Honor ceremony, will feature the National Anthem performed by the Tony Award-winning cast of Jersey Boys and a T-38 flyover by the 12th Flying Training Wing.
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There have been some reports circulating about a “reallocation” rule in the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement that might prevent the Jets from giving Darrelle Revis the new contract he’s seeking with guaranteed money.
This is a matter of semantics.
In part, the rule states that if the Jets are doing a contract extension this year, which is an uncapped year, future guarantees against skill and injury must fit under the team’s 2009 salary cap. The Jets were less than $1 million under the ’09 cap.
According to several NFL agents familiar with rule, the Jets can offer Revis signing bonus money but not guarantee his base salary. In other words, they could offer him a large signing bonus of, say, $15 million and then pay him non-guaranteed $5 million per year for the next three years. They could not, under the reallocation rule, offer Revis $10 million in guaranteed salary in each of the next three years.
“They’re hiding behind the [reallocation] rule,” one agent said.
It’s believed that the Jets are trying to get Revis to sign a contract similar to the extension they signed D’Brickashaw Ferguson to — one with a lot of “guaranteed” money for either skill or injury, but not for both, meaning totally guaranteed.
Revis, wanting to protect his future, wants fully guaranteed money.
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The Jets yesterday signed free agent defensive tackle Martin Tevaseu, who was an undrafted free agent with the Cleveland Browns and was released on June 15.