The Jets Stream July 28, 2007 Jets 1st round pick grounded by contract dispute Neither side is commenting on negotiations, but I?m starting to get some strong vibes that the Darrelle Revis contract dispute may last a while longer. The sides have a fundamental difference of philosophy. Naturally, the Jets want to lock him up for six years, the longest allowed by rule for a player drafted in the top half of the first round. Revis wants a five-year deal. Can?t blame him. He?d be giving up some signing bonus, but a shorter deal would allow him to hit the free-agent market sooner. With the salary cap increasing so much, there?s a fortune to be made in free agency. I hate to pick sides in contract disputes, but it?s hard not to see the leaguewide trend. The players selected from eighth to 16th (Revis was 14th) are getting five-year deals. The only player to get a straight six-year contract in the top 16 is the Bucs? Gaines Adams, picked fourth. Revis wants what the others are getting and the Jets are tying to reinvent the wheel. Revis? agent, Neil Schwartz, also represents Pete Kendall, who is engaged in a bitter dispute with the Jets. You?re probably wondering if the bad blood from the Kendall situation is affecting the Revis talks. That question was posed to GM Mike Tannenbaum at last month?s minicamp, and this is what he said: "Darrelle Revis was the 14th pick in the draft and I?ve been negotiating contracts long enough to know that he?s going to get less than the 13th picks and more than the 15th pick in the draft. It doesn?t matter if Scott Boras, Arn Tellem or Neil Schwartz represents him." Rams DT Adam Carriker, the 13th pick, and Steelers LB Lawrence Timmons, the 15th pick, both received five-year contracts. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/jets/
POSTED 7:23 a.m. EDT, July 28, 2007 WILLIS IS TALKIN' ABOUT GETTING PAID Multiple media outlets report that the San Francisco 49ers have reached an agreement with linebacker Patrick Willis, the No. 11 overall pick in the draft. Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that the contract is for five years with $12 million guaranteed and a maximum package of $16.655 million. Willis is the latest top-16 pick to be tied up for only five years despite a CBA rule allowing the first half of the first round to be signed to a maximum deal of six years. Though there's a chance that this phenomenon happened spontaneously, we have a feeling that NFL teams have decided to make a smaller up front investment in high-end first-rounders, since chances are that as many as half of them won't become great players. For those that do, the teams will face having to extend their deals a year sooner, which is a good problem to have, since it means that the team has a great player. http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm
I tend to agree that five years is better. Smaller signing bonus which means smaller cap hit when they turn out to be crap and you want to cut them. As far as the cap going up so fast, that was a one year phenomenon.
I'm not sure whey Tanny is a hypocrite. I'm guessing that Revis will get a larger bonus for a 6 year deal than a 5 year deal and he should get more money on a pro rated yearly basis for 6 years than 5 years which means if he turns into a wash out witch is a 50/50 possability the Jets will be on the hook for a larger yearly cap hit than they would on a 5 year deal. They must feel this guy is a can't miss prospect to want to commit bigger bucks now. I'm guessing they didn't offer a larger pro rated bonus for the 6 year deal and that may be as big a hang up as the 5 years we are hearing about?
I doubt it...... its just like the article states up front. The player becomes a free agent sooner and therefore, he sees a signing bonus battle un-rivaled by any possible pro-ration in this first contract. I'm 100% behind the player. The team can do whatever they want when the player is under contract. They will even have the option of not paying him the 25million signing bonus later and just franchise him twice!! This is the only card the player holds.
one thing is starting to become even more clear. This new administration is certainly making it clear that they have only one way.... and its their way!! That kind of inflexibility worked for Parcells 20 yrs ago, works for Bellicheck now and so far has been failing for Coughlin. It could begin to backfire on these guys quickly with one bad run during the season ala the Giants
im sure having our 1st rd pick out of training camp over a 1yr dispute is good for team.. look around tanny every rookie is signing 5 yr deals you lost. get revis in here.
yeah i guess all the other GMs are morons for not forcing their 1st round pick to sign a 6yr contract
Well, now the only unsigned first round picks are him, Bowe, Russell, Landry, Johnson, Peterson, Beason, Brown, Willis and Quinn as 3 more signed yesterday. If he's still somehow out after Russell, Quinn and Johnson sign it will really look bad. I can't imagine either side would let that happen.
By Revis not signing a deal he is only hurting his own playing time. I think it has been pretty clear when questions have been asked so far during Mangini's pressers he has stated he is not going to focus on those that have not chose to be in camp and he rather focus on those who are there. With the track record Tanny has with signing rookies I find it hard to believe that it is all his fault Revis is not in camp. Revis is the only draft pick not to sign before camp since 1995 I believe.
It's a tough situation to deal with regardless. Past what the Daily News has reported, we have no idea what Revis and Tannenbaum may be asking the other party to agree to. Granted, it could just be the 5 year deal vs. 6 year deal, but there could be other variables, including guaranteed money and performance money that's slowing everything down. Both sides need to come to their senses soon and agree on a contract so Revis can focus on playing.
Hmmm, or maybe Tanny is trying to make the best long-term deal in favor of the ballclub. No one was complaining when he revamped the team to bring the cap situation under control over a year ago. He's basically trying to keep the team's cap reasonable in a long-term sense. Rather than give this kid something that may cost us more in later years (due to the expiration of the contract and new negotiations,) when we can't afford it, he's trying to assure the money is managable (by having it already established, and therefore leaving nothing to the unknown.) Hard to call actions that are repetitions of past behavior hypocritical. As a matter of fact, it would be more the antithesis of hypocritical.
Different teams have different philosophies. It doesn't hurt the Jets too much to insist on a 6-year deal at this point. Sure, Revis misses some camp, but in the end a month of camp would be worth another year. If, however, he won't sign a 6-year, period, then the Jets will need to change their stance if they want to sign him. Regardless, I am not sure how that makes Tannenbaum a hypocrite...please explain.
All the other GMs did not spend two high draft picks for one dude. It's obvious that the FO targeted this guy specifically and now wants returns on their investment in the form of a maximum length deal. That's what I want, but Revis does have a point. I think the compromise is gonna be the incentive based voidable sixth year like marshawn lynch got. If he reaches the incentives, he's obviously paid for himself and deserves to go "get paid". Either way, we need him in camp sooner than later.
The Jets aren't going to get 6 years. The sooner they realize that and move on the better because it will get Revis into camp in time to make an early impact this year. The scenario we're going to be looking at in 3 weeks is the majority, probably the vast majority, of the top 16 signed to 5 year deals and Revis saying he wants what everybody else got. There's no play here for the Jets at all, just bad press.
