It has been several weeks since it became clear that the most serious (and possibly only) suitor for Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who apparently remain willing to pay Revis what he wants on a long-term deal even as the cornerback market has disintegrated.
But a trade bogged down with the Jets wanting a package headlined by the 13th overall pick in the 2013 draft and the Bucs hoping instead to send a 2014 first-rounder that, if the team from Tampa has its way, will be much lower than No. 13.
Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune believes that, as the draft approaches, talk of the trade going down “will heat up again.” Cummings writes that the Bucs continue to refuse to part ways with their 2013 first-round pick “in part because it’s too soon to know how this year’s draft will play out.”
That’s a great point. A player the Bucs would have drafted with a much higher pick could squirt through the first 12 selections, making them more inclined to use it. Conversely, there may be no one Tampa really wants at No. 13, making a trade to the Jets more likely.
That would actually help the Jets, since getting the 13th pick after 12 have been made would ensure that no one would try to leap past New York and take the player the Jets would possibly be targeting at No. 13.
There’s a third path that could get the deal done, giving the Jets the 2013 first-round pick G.M. John Idzik feels compelled to obtain. The Bucs could slide back from No. 13 if they aren’t thrilled with any of the players available at that point, and then offer the lower pick to the Jets.
The fact that the Bucs have yet to sign another cornerback, coupled with the belief in league circles that ownership in Tampa wants Revis, means that this deal isn’t dead, yet. In the end, it could make for some unexpected twists on the night of Thursday, April 25.