CORTLAND, N.Y. — It appears Darrelle Revis won’t be joining his teammates anytime soon.
The New York Jets rejected the latest offer proposed by the All-Pro cornerback’s agents, and owner Woody Johnson is not optimistic a deal can get done before the regular season.
“The answer’s no,” Johnson said tersely Monday, a few hours after agent Neil Schwartz told The Associated Press he was awaiting a response from the Jets.
Schwartz and partner Jonathan Feinsod met with general manager Mike Tannenbaum and director of football administration Ari Nissim at a diner last Friday. They offered a long-term contact proposal for Johnson to review to try to make some headway in the dispute.
“Fundamentally, there really wasn’t any change,” Tannenbaum said, “and right now, we can’t find something that makes sense for both sides, so we really don’t have any progress.”
Revis has missed nine days, including Monday, since the team reported for training camp at SUNY Cortland. He is scheduled to make $1 million in the fourth year of his six-year rookie deal, but wants to become the league’s highest-paid cornerback.
A clearly irritated Johnson sounded less optimistic than he did a week ago, when he last commented on the negotiations.
“Well, I think based on the meeting we had last Friday, that Mike had, that’s the conclusion,” Johnson said. “And, you know, that’s my feeling right at this moment.”
Tannenbaum added that both sides had a “pretty good sense” of where the negotiations stood after their three-hour meeting at Roscoe’s Diner, located about two hours southeast of the team’s training camp site.
Revis is seeking a deal higher than the three-year, $45.3 million extension Oakland’s Nnamdi Asomugha signed last offseason. The All-Pro cornerback has not commented publicly since minicamp in June.
“The problem in this situation is we have a very fundamental difference of opinion on what the compensation should be,” Tannenbaum said. “When we will talk next, that’s hard to say.”
Schwartz said the HBO and NFL Films crew from Hard Knocks, which is filming the Jets during training camp, asked to attend the meeting. Schwartz and Feinsod declined.
Jets coach Rex Ryan said he hadn’t heard anything new between practices Monday, and insisted the team needs to press ahead without Revis.
“We’re coaching this group,” Ryan said. “That’s all we can focus on right now is getting this team ready. We’ve got to prepare like he’s not going to be here. And, if he comes walking through the door, that’s fine. Somebody will kiss him on the lips, probably. It doesn’t matter. We’re getting this team ready.”
Revis is being fined $16,523 for each day he misses, meaning he is already out $148,707. By sitting out, he also waived a clause in his contract which would have guaranteed him $20 million over the last two years of his deal.
The next big day in the holdout is Tuesday, when – by rule – he wouldn’t get credit for this year as an accrued season toward free agency. However, it is believed that won’t have much bearing on Revis’ decision.
The possibility that it could be a long holdout isn’t out of the question. Revis’ uncle, former NFL defensive lineman Sean Gilbert, sat out the entire 1997 season in a contract dispute. Gilbert, whom Revis confides in, ended up getting traded from Washington to Carolina and got the big payday he sought.
“When there is an appropriate deal to be made, I have absolutely no idea,” Tannenbaum said. “Do I hope it was a month ago? Sure. But, until there’s a deal that makes sense for both sides, he’s not here and there’s nothing we can do about it.”