It became clear two weeks ago that, if/when (when) the Jets trade cornerback Darrelle Revis to the Buccaneers, the Jets will receive Tampa Bay’s first-round pick in the 2013 draft.
The only question was what else the Jets would get.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, it’s not a whole lot.
Per Schefter, the Jets will receive a fourth-round pick in 2014 (which some would regard as the equivalent of a fifth-round pick in 2013). The fourth-round pick in 2014 can become a third-rounder, based on certain conditions.
The package is less than the first-rounder, seventh-rounder, and 2014 third-rounder the Vikings finagled for receiver Percy Harvin. As previously explained, however, the Vikings could have used the franchise tag for two years on Harvin, controlling his rights for a total of three. Revis, per the terms of his contract, would have been free and clear after 2013.
The trade happened because the Jets had no interest in seeing Revis join a team like the Patriots or the Giants in 2014, and likewise no interest in paying Revis now, or ever. Tampa’s low-risk, $16 million per year, year-to-year deal presumably could have been offered by the Jets, if the Jets had wanted to invest that kind of money.
They didn’t, the Bucs did, and now the Jets have the 13th pick in the draft, seven years after they acquired Revis with pick 14.