If the Jets are going to trade cornerback Darrelle Revis to the Buccaneers, it needs to happen soon.
More specifically, the Bucs need to give Revis a physical soon.
While it would be ideal for the Jets to pick up the 13th overall pick in the 2013 draft when the Bucs are on the clock on Thursday night, the trade can’t happen until the Bucs inspect the player’s surgically-repaired knee and conclude that he’ll be able to play at a high level come September. Which means that a deal between the two teams needs to happen fairly soon, so that the poking and prodding of the knee can begin.
As one source with knowledge of the negotiations suggested earlier this month, the practical deadline for getting a deal done is Monday, April 22. That would give the Bucs a fair opportunity to inspect the knee.
The biggest question becomes whether the Bucs and Jets would finalize the deal (i.e., each team reports it to the league office) subject to Revis passing a physical, or whether the two teams agree that the physical will happen first, and that the deal will be called in when Revis gets the “all clear” from Tampa’s doctors -- and possibly when the Bucs are on the clock with the 13th pick.
The latter approach requires extreme discretion from everyone involved and a leap of faith that the teams each will call the league office and finalize the deal, even if for example a player the Bucs love happens to slip past the first 12 picks. Since a trade isn’t binding until each team calls it in, the Jets or the Bucs could in theory renege.
Regardless of how it all works out, there’s not much time left to strike a deal as to what the Jets will get for Revis, given that the Bucs need to be completely sure about what they are getting.