The Jets will release cornerback Darrelle Revis, avoiding a $2 million roster bonus due next week but absorbing $6 million in guaranteed salary for 2017. Ralph Vacchiano of SNY reports that the Jets will not try to keep the $6 million.
As explained by Vacchiano, the team looked into whether a recent arrest in Pittsburgh provides grounds for invalidating the guarantee. They correctly decided that it doesn’t; absent a league-imposed suspension or justifiable grounds for a team-imposed suspension for conduct detrimental to the team (surely, offseason off-field misconduct is not), the money remains guaranteed.
So the Jets had to decide whether to pay $2 million now in order to wait and see whether there’s a way to avoid the $6 million later. It was an easy decision, especially since the $6 million has offset language, giving the Jets a dollar-for-dollar credit for the first $6 million Revis makes elsewhere.
Thus, while the Jets may privately couch their strategy as reflecting a conscious decision to take the high road, it’s really the only road that the Jets could have taken.