With the 2013 league year nearly a month old and cornerback Darrelle Revis still a member of the Jets, the player is “not optimistic” a trade to the Buccaneers will happen, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Talks between the Jets and Bucs bogged down last month, presumably over New York’s insistence on a trade package headlined by a first-round pick in the 2013 draft, not the 2014 draft.
But the trade could still happen, in large part because the Bucs apparently are willing to give Revis a deal that would pay out roughly $15 million per year on average, despite his ACL tear and the currently pathetic market for veteran cornerbacks.
We recently suggested that the deal could go down when the Buccaneers are on the clock with the 13th pick in the draft. If there’s no one there they want (and if there’s someone available who could help the Jets get better — then again, that bar is pretty low right now), that’s when the trade could happen.
After that, the Jets would have to trade him for 2014 picks, or for current players. And if the Jets don’t trade him, Revis will walk away following the 2013 season. Which also would be the Revis Farewell Tour in New York, yet another distraction for a team that has had more than its share of them lately.
The Jets can avoid all of this by signing Revis to an extension. He reportedly wants to stay. If the Jets want him, they should simply give him the deal that the Buccaneers apparently are ready to hand over.