It's not clear here whether you believe Revis would have still held out. If you believe he still would have, then my opinion of why Tanny opened up negotiations makes perfect sense. If not, I have a tunnel to sell you. :smile:
I don't know if he would have or not (no one does), it's not unlikely considering who his agents are. They would have had less ground to stand on had they been the ones to start the talks though.
I think he still would have held out, but the approach from Tanny absolutely legitimized it to some extent. It wasn't a smart move. As for why Tanny opened up negotiations, he recognized that Revis had outplayed his deal. To attempt to preemptively reach an agreement doesn't diminish that. If anything, the fact that both sides knew what was coming shows how questionable it was for him to risk injury for $1 million after his performance for 3 years. I don't get why people are throwing around the "3 years left" argument as though he NECESSARILY had three years left on his deal. If he had gotten hurt this season, there were no guarantees on that contract. The guarantees on the $20 million didn't kick in until the Super Bowl. He was risking everything for $1 million. If he got injured, there was no guaranteed money left on the deal.
Unless he had a career ending injury the Jets would have bought it back. I think that angle is over played.
But he held out for that deal and signed it. That's on his agents to protect this 1 mil year before he signs the deal. I assume the jets were the ones fighting for the 2 nonguaranteed years at the end to control him longer but his agent had to fight for the last year at a higher base to protect him. They didn't so to hold that over the team now is shitty of them and him.
I'll never criticize a player for holding out because his rookie deal doesn't match his play. Careers in the NFL are short, and the contracts they sign to begin their careers are based on guesswork. I may object to Revis's demands at this point, but I certainly don't object to him seeking a new deal just because he signed the one available to him based on predicted translation of his skills to the NFL.
The amount diminished simply if he was injured and missed the Pro Bowl this season. I'm fairly certain missing the Pro Bowl this season would have cost either $2 million or $4 million (depending on who you ask) off the last year of the deal. Granted, that's still $16 - 18 million guaranteed in the final two years, but you can also factor in the possibility that he gets injured fewer than 6 weeks in and gets treated as an RFA because he couldn't accrue a season. There was certainly potential for him to miss out on that money, and he decided it wasn't worth the risk. At this point, however, his demands are simply absurd.
Alright guys I've got two questions. If he holds out the entire year, how is next year going to be any easier to get a deal done? He'll still want the same contract and then he'd be a full year removed from football. I don't see the point in doing this. Does he have to play 6 games this year regardless? How does that work?
One detail about the Emmit Smith holdout that I don't recall seeing mentioned yet is that there was no salary cap yet when that happened. Jerry Jones didn't have to budget making it easier to budge.
Anyone who didn't expect Revis to fight for a new contract this year is crazy and wasn't paying attention. From the start this year had a big bullseye on it when Revis first signed the deal. The original deal was designed so that if Revis performed, he'd get paid. He kept up his share of that bargain. Now he's simply asking for too much. To the point where it's just laughable. That's the only reason it's not already done.
Wow, you know you're in trouble when Bill Simmons agrees with you. Maybe I need to rethink my stance.
Don't you think that the Jets have already offered some short term deal just to get him to report that would have essentailly given Revis the same amount of money that he would have gotten assuming those last two years were bought back at the max value? I can't imagine that a proposal like that (guaranteeing Revis $21M over the next three years) hasn't already happened. Also, I'm pretty sure that Revis would have held out even if Mike Tannenbaum didn't "open up negotiations". The agent has already said: "Darrelle will not play under the current contract," Schwartz said. "But he loves the Jets, loves his teammates, loves his head coach, loves New York City. He loves everything about being a Jet, but he's not happy with the contract." Does that sound like a guy that wouldn't have held out if the Jets did nothing? IMHO for the majority of fans, I don't think the fact that the Jets thought that he "outplayed his contract" gives him free license to hold out.
Great image. It actually raises another thought I'm not sure has been discussed yet (or maybe it has, IDK): years. The Raiders made a much shorter commitment than the Jets would prefer to make to Revis. Sure, they gave him ~$16m/yr, but if after 3 years they've had enough and need to start ponying up for other players, they are free to do so. The Jets, on the other hand, essentially want a lifetime contract for Revis. But at $16m/yr, that is an enormous risk. Even broken down unevenly, with most being paid in the front-side of the deal, it's still incredibly hard to distribute a $160m/10yr contract in a reasonable way, that doesn't have the potential to cripple your team. It just absolutely baffles me how Revis and/or his agents think this is in any way reasonable. Could it be they're game plan is to play such a painful game of hard-ball now, so that when they come back with something slightly better (and perhaps within reach of what the Jets are willing to work with), the FO just jumps at it?
The Darrelle Revis Holdout Thread ($40 million apart) Its been said that Revis's agents negotiated this deal assuming that if he played well he would've redone his contract this year anyway. So it really doesn't matter if Tanny opened the door or not. It's safe to say after the year Revis had last year there was no way in hell he would've played for a million this year.
