Has New York Jets' CB Darelle Revis lost a step?
NFL careers tend to resemble a bell curve. Most players start slowly enough, develop into their prime, peak, and then decline before eventually leaving the league, calling it a career or having the league do it for them.
Anybody that deals with personnel in the NFL is facing a constant juggling act of anticipating this decline and structuring contracts accordingly. When you sign a player that is approaching the usual years of decline, you must be acutely aware that he may at some point fail to live up to the contract he is signing.
That brings us to Darrelle Revis – the best paid corner in the game. I don’t just mean that in reference to the latest deal he signed with the Jets, but Revis has been a master at maximizing his dollar value throughout his career, and so returns to New York for a second stint under some pretty gaudy looking contract numbers.
In the first round of the AFC playoffs against the Baltimore Ravens, Patriots' CB Darrelle Revis allowed three catches to Ravens' WR Steve Smith Sr. for 44 yards and one TD. Against the Indianapolis Colts, Revis allowed zero receptions in his area in New England's thrashing of the Colts, 45-7. In Super Bowl XLIX, the only catch in the vicinity of Darrelle Revis was made by Seahawks' WR Doug Baldwin. The play resulted in a three yard TD reception, giving Seattle a 24-14 lead. Of course, the grab was made possible with interference from the back judge in the end zone.
Following the 2014 opening game jitters against the Miami Dolphins in covering WR Mike Wallace(seven catches, 81 yards, one TD), Darrelle Revis recovered nicely to earn all of the $12 million he was paid by the New England Patriots. In 2015, Darrelle is slated to earn $16 million. The cost for 2016 will be $17.3 million. In 2017, the figure is $15 million. All three years will be money well spent.
"It's NFL free agency," was Belichick's running mantra. "It's like that in the NFL," Belichick said "Players leave teams, go to teams in free agency every year. It's not a big story."
I would disagree with Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick that this is not a big story. While it is true that Darrelle Revis isn't "walking through that door", his replacement has an impossible task in filling the gaping hole on the left side of the field. Maybe, the final two years of that $70 million deal with the New York Jets will be an albatross. Other than the brief period spent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, teams can always say that they got their money's worth with Darrelle Revis. I'd take my chances living on Revis Island.
The Brooklyn Bridge has never been for sale, but has reputedly been sold to many unsuspecting dupes. To buy the Brooklyn Bridge means to fall for "a line", or to "get taken". The expression is usually used as: "If you believe that, then have I got a bridge for you (or "I have a bridge to sell you")."
Players only love you when they're playing. Once Darrelle Revis put ink on that contract with the enemy, the New York Jets, he slowed down considerably.
Paul Murphy is a freelance writer from New Hampshire.
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