For Darrelle Revis, signing with the NY Jets wasn’t about the money. It was about coming home to the team that drafted him and fulfilling a vow he made to then-GM Mike Tannenbaum to bring a Super Bowl championship to New York.
“I told [Tannenbaum] I would I’d do everything in my power to try to bring a championship to this organization. And I still feel that way,” Revis said, according to the New York Daily News . “That’s something I want to be part of. The thing I want to bring to the organization is winning. That was one of the big reasons to come back home. I still have that mindset.”
Coming off a 4-12 season, however, which includes a completely overhauled front office and coaching staff, makes that vow from Darelle a bit hard to swallow. It’s also why many pundits around the league speculate the move back to the Jets wasn’t about coming home — it was about the money. Revis, however, disputes that notion.
“I’m not going to speak on the numbers. I think the biggest decision for me was to just come back home. I have a lot of history with the Jets organization, and I just felt like it was, you know, a no-brainer to come home, be back home and make a marriage.”
Revis’s giant contract makes him the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL with guarantees in the ballpark of $39 million. It also has led many to wonder if the Jets will have the cap room to truly make the necessary upgrades to compete for a Super Bowl bid next year.
But as reported by Inquisitr , it didn’t prohibit them from landing Brandon Marshall for a fifth round pick. It also didn’t stop them from acquiring Texans QB Ryan Fitzpatrick for a 2016 conditional pick.
Texans are trading QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to the New York Jets for a late-round conditional draft pick, per a league source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 11, 2015
Meanwhile, ESPN is reporting that Revis himself is helping with the recruiting operation to bring more guys in, including his former teammate, free agent cornerback Antonio Cromartie.
If Cromartie signs, the Jets will have completely rebuilt their secondary with the addition of Darrelle Revis and also the newly-signed Buster Skrine, a cornerback from the Cleveland Browns. They are also talking to safety Marcus Gilchrist to complete the overhaul to the one unit that cost them dearly last year from lack of talent.
Somewhere in Buffalo, Rex Ryan can’t help but be chomping mad with his former team. If the NY Jets had spent the money to bring back Darrelle Revis last year, Ryan might still have a job.
[Darrelle Revis photo credit: Al Bello / Getty Images]
