Darrelle Revis Trade Rumors Prove Jets Are Clueless

Added on Jan 24, 2013 by Scott in

NFL

You can tell it’s the leadup to Super Bowl XLVII, because teams looking to make some noise in the media are floating rumors. Like the Jets front office, i.e. owner Woody Johnson, suggesting the team is open to trading All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis. Wait, what? That’s right folks, Woody Johnson, who recently fired GM Mike Tannenbaum but kept head coach Rex Ryan, and appears to be the catalyst to acquiring Tim Tebow, is now contemplating shipping the best player on the roster out of town. No wonder the Jets are spiraling downward.

Revis, a four-time Pro Bowler and 2009 AFC Defensive Player of the Year, is currently rehabbing the ACL he tore back in September. His absence on defense might not be apparent in the rankings since the Jets finished second in the league versus the pass, but his presence on the field was sorely missed during the disastrous 6-10 2012 campaign. Very few defenders are as skilled or intimidating.

Now, it’s certainly plausible for an owner to entertain offers from other teams for elite players, but when said owner is the one instigating the talks, there’s a bigger problem at hand. It would be one thing if Revis was publicly trashing the franchise, but he’s said nothing of note while recovering. In fact, he tweeted Thursday evening that he was “speechless” at the reports circulating and even apologized to Jets fans, which is something Johnson should do but won’t.

The Jets obviously have numerous holes to be filled, most notably at every position on offense. Could Revis fetch some much needed draft picks? Sure. However, it’s no guarantee that whatever they receive in return would be worth what they would be losing. Legit shutdown corners are one of the hardest things to find in the NFL; you can count on one hand the number that exist throughout the league.

It’s not as if the Jets have done wonders with the draft in recent years, either. See Vernon Gholston, Mark Sanchez, Vlad Ducasse and Kenrick Ellis. Perhaps new GM John Idzik will be better, but his first order of business shouldn’t be trading away one of the game’s best players. That’s the definition of insanity.