Plenty of Jets fans are shrugging off the absence of cornerback Darrelle Revis as a short-term protest aimed at making a point.
It could be more appropriate for Jets fans to engage in a somewhat different activity that starts with “sh” and ends with “ing.”
Per a league source, former NFL defensive tackle Sean Gilbert is “intimately involved’ in the holdout process. Gilbert, the brother of Revis’ mother, once sat out an entire season in a contract dispute with the Redskins.
Gilbert’s level of involvement wasn’t clear in past weeks, especially when Revis seemed to ignore Gilbert’s general view that a player in such situations should let his agent do the talking.
We’re also told that Revis has no concerns about holding out beyond August 10, despite a widespread belief that he’ll report by the last date for picking up his fourth year of credit toward free agency. As we understand it, Revis is fully committed to staying away until he gets a long-term deal with real genuine guaranteed money, not the D’Brickashaw Ferguson fiction that requires the player to get through at least one season without suffering a serious injury before beginning to unlock real dollars.
We’ve got more to come on this. But this particular cow has a full udder, and we need to milk it slowly.