Darrelle Revis’ ACL Injury Not Scaring Teams Away From a Trade
By Josh Hill
The New York Jets are in a bit of a pickle. Besides all the turmoil from the 2012 season that has carried over into the offseason, the Jets now have a major decision on their hands: what to do with Darrelle Revis. It was reported earlier this week that the Jets and new general manager John Idzik are exploring a possible trade that would ship ‘Revis Island’ to a new location.
But while every team in the NFL wanted Darrelle Revis before his ACL injury, they question now becomes who wants him after the fact? Revis better send a giant box of chocolates to Adrian Peterson, as after the Vikings running back bounced back from his ACL injury, it seems teams aren’t as scared as they once were about a players recovery.
Mike Freeman from CBSSports.com wrote that there is a ‘gold rush’ of teams vying to get Revis on their roster. Logic would suggest that even a Darrelle Revis operating at 85 percent is still ten times better than most of the defensive backs in the NFL. The reason the Jets are trading Revis has nothing to do with his ACL, rather it has everything to do with his contract situation.
The Jets cannot franchise tag Revis after the 2013 season, meaning he’ll hit the market if the two sides can’t work out an extension. The Jets are sort of in rebuilding mode, and if it comes to that next year they’ll want the money they’d otherwise be paying Revis to be allocated towards bringing in newer and younger talent.
Freeman reports that teams like the Packers, Broncos and Patriots are all interested in acquiring Revis’ services:
"Other teams highly interested, I’m told, are Denver, San Francisco, Buffalo (not happening — division rival), and even Seattle, which already has some of the best defensive backs in the game. One team also constantly mentioned by league sources is Green Bay, though the Packers, possessors of one of the best front offices in all of sports, usually don’t give up high-round picks."
Despite suffering a once debilitating and career threatening injury, the market for Revis is not only fluid but it contains some seriously elite teams. The Jets won’t just settle for nothing to dump Revis, but if the right combination of picks and a player ends up being offered before the draft offered, the Jets aren’t about to get sentimental about their star cornerback.