Sending the 13th overall pick in the 2013 draft and most likely a third-round pick in 2014 to the Jets for cornerback Darrelle Revis entails plenty of risk -- especially when throwing a bare minimum of $16 million and a more likely cover charge of $32 million for a guy with a new ACL.
The Buccaneers know it, and the Buccaneers welcome it.
“We decided there was not enough risk to not do it,” Bucs G.M. Mark Dominik tells Peter King of SI.com. “At the end of the day, you trust your doctors to tell you as much as they can, but it’s a decision really that came down to me and Greg. We had to be comfortable with the risk, and I can tell you we are.”
There are two distinct types of risk. If Revis can’t cut or change directions or otherwise move like he did before tearing his ACL, he won’t be the guy he was. And so the Bucs will have wasted two draft picks and at least $16 million. If they stick with him in 2014 under the assumption/hope that he needed the 2013 season to fully recover and they assume/hope wrong, the loss doubles to $32 million.
The other risk comes from Revis having an Adrian Peterson-type recovery, and then demanding more money and/or some/any guaranteed compensation come 2014.
While that arguably would be a good problem to have, it won’t feel that way if he’s holding out deep into training camp.