NEW YORK — Darrelle Revis is ending his holdout and joining his teammates for what they hope is a Super Bowl run.
The All-Pro cornerback and the
New York Jets agreed in principle to a four-year contract Sunday night,
reaching a deal a week before the team's season opener. The Jets
wouldn't disclose financial terms, but the Daily News reported it was
worth $46 million, including $32 million guaranteed.
"Barring something unforeseen, we
expect Darrelle to be here (Monday)," general manager Mike Tannenbaum
said during a conference call early Monday morning.
Revis planned to fly from his
home in South Florida to New Jersey on Monday, and is expected to
finalize the deal and end a 36-day holdout.
"This is an intermediate step to
what we hope is an entire career of Darrelle as a Jet," Tannenbaum said,
"for him to retire a Jet, for him to hopefully go to the Hall of Fame
one day as a Jet and for him to be in our ring of honor."
Revis, who made no public
statements about the sometimes acrimonious negotiations since minicamp
in June, used his Twitter account to thank his family and agents, Neil
Schwartz and Jonathan Feinsod.
"To my family, neil, & john I love u guys I'm comin home baby!!!" Revis wrote. "Revis Island LET'S GO."
Both owner Woody Johnson and
coach Rex Ryan flew down to South Florida on Saturday and met with
Revis, mother Diana Gilbert, and uncle and former NFL player Sean
Gilbert over the weekend to try to help get a deal done.
"I think that was an important
step in the process, but there was still obviously more work to be
done," Tannenbaum said. "We spent all day looking at it and probably
about (11 p.m. Sunday), we made a very significant breakthrough to
finding a landing spot that was good for both sides."
Ryan was scheduled to have a
conference call with reporters Saturday night to discuss the Jets'
roster cutdown, but Tannenbaum handled it instead. A team spokesman said
Ryan was unavailable because he was at an "appointment."
That turned out to be a visit with the man whom Ryan has repeatedly called the best cornerback in the NFL.
The new contract means Revis
will likely be back on the field in time for the opener next Monday
night against Baltimore at the New Meadowlands Stadium.
"That'll be Rex's call," Tannenbaum said.
The general manager said he "had
no idea" what corresponding roster move the Jets would make once Revis
was signed, sealed and delivered.
"I'm sure Rex will be able to figure out what to do to get Darrelle on the team," Tannenbaum quipped.
Revis' holdout began Aug. 1,
when the team reported for training camp in Cortland. Tannenbaum said
the nearly $600,000 in fines Revis accrued for sitting out would be
handled internally by the team.
He was scheduled to make $1
million in the fourth year of his six-year rookie deal, but said he
wanted to become the league's highest-paid cornerback. While he didn't
get that this time around, he's getting the guaranteed money he sought
during negotiations over the last several months. With NFL Films cameras
following the Jets all summer for HBO's "Hard Knocks" series, Revis'
holdout was a major story line without him ever appearing in an episode.
He'll certainly be a major focus
in Wednesday night's series finale, especially since Tannenbaum
acknowledged he wasn't sure the deal would ever get done and said the
Jets looked into trades over the weekend for other cornerbacks.
"This was one of those things
where I really wasn't optimistic," Tannenbaum said. "I really wasn't.
I'm an optimist by nature, but this was really hard. There was a lot of
heavy lifting, a lot of work put into it."
Since early August, the team and
Revis' agents agreed to keep all negotiations confidential after things
got testy through the media.
There were some accusations made
by both sides, with Johnson saying he was "rebuffed" by Revis' agents
when he asked if he could be part of a meeting at the Roscoe Diner in
Roscoe, N.Y.. Schwartz responded by saying that was "a blatant lie" and
that Johnson was given "incorrect" information. He also said he'd meet
Johnson "any time, any place."
Ryan even got into it,
suggesting he give the team a day off from practice so the entire
organization could sit down with Revis, his agents and anyone else the
star player wanted in an effort to complete a deal.
Then came a code of silence from
both sides – and the fear that Revis could sit out the entire season,
as his uncle once did. In the end, though, Revis will be back with the
team in time to begin a season Ryan and the Jets are convinced will be
special.
"I'm happy, I'm relieved,"
Tannenbaum said. "Obviously, Darrelle's a great player. He's our guy and
he's an important piece to what we're trying to accomplish here. … I
don't think anyone wanted it to take as long as it did, but it did. Now,
we can put it behind us and move on to Baltimore."