If you had spent all your lunch money and saw the pal that you owe 20 bucks to coming down the hall, you’d run the other way, too, right?
That’s what Manish Mehta of The New York Daily News says is happening with the Jets and Neil Schwartz, the agent for star cornerback Darrelle Revis. The Jets, who have been shedding players and trying to restructure deals due to serious financial troubles, reportedly avoided Schwartz this week at the NFL combine because they don’t want to work out a new deal with Revis.
Revis missed much of last season with a torn ACL but is expected to be ready to play this year. The catch, though, is that Revis rarely goes into a season content with his salary. The cornerback who is as famous for asking for pay raises as he is for shutting down wide receivers has already mentioned that he thinks he deserves more money this time around, too, despite the 2010 deal that was supposed to take care of these things for a while.
The Jets, who are in no place to be handing out raises but did say in 2010 that they wanted to keep Revis long-term, are reportedly dealing with the disconnect the old-fashioned way — they are purposefully avoiding Revis’ agent. New general manager John Idzik, coach Rex Ryan and owner Woody Johnson did not meet or contact Revis’ representatives during the combine despite meeting with those associated with Santonio Holmes, Dustin Keller, Jeff Cumberland, Austin Howard, Shonn Greene and LaRon Landry, according to Mehta. This comes just weeks after the Jets were suspected of trying to trade Revis, knowing they couldn’t afford what he’d be asking for.
Revis is said to be looking for $16 million a year, and the Jets aren’t interested in a long-term deal that would hurt the franchise, Mehta reports. He also says Idzik hasn’t spoken with Revis’ representatives since he was hired as the new Jets general manager, although he did reach out to Revis about the trade rumors.
Revis is set to earn $6 million this year, and he can be a free agent after the season if he doesn’t skip any mandatory team activities.
