If you like your NFL preseason to be filled with soap opera stuff, and you are a NY Jets fan, well you have to admit 2010 is starting off with lots of excitement in the sports drama, As Gang Green Turns. Talented cornerback Darrelle Revis is holding out for more money. Jets owner Woody Johnson says he's willing to talk, but that has gotten the two parties to a stalemate, with Revis rejecting two previous offers.
Jets coach Rex Ryan has lost lots of weight – if this was last year and Revis was missing, someone might have thought Ryan swallowed him. Ryan's new svelte image hasn't stopped him from doing a lot of talking, and he keeps talking about Revis. "He's part of our team. He's just not here." Uh, yeah, Rex, thanks for the clarification.
A report in the August 4 edition of the NY Daily News indicates that Revis is not inventing this holdout on his own, but rather taking a page from the book his uncle Sean Gilbert wrote when the Redskins player sat out the 1997 season because of a pay dispute. Revis is apparently very close to his uncle, and Ryan believes Gilbert is "advising" him during the whole process.
My feelings about this as a fan are that this is just the same old tactic others have used, and every fan should feel cheated by this happening during training camp. It is just as bad as teachers striking during the first week back to school. Why couldn't Revis and Johnson negotiate this deal earlier this year? Why wait until preseason?
Well, for Revis this is obviously the best time to make his stand, but I wonder if he will sit out an entire season like Gilbert did. Even if he hopes to be traded after the season (as Gilbert was in 1997), that's a whole year without statistics, and I can't imagine any player wanting to see that blank line on his career chart.
Article comments