Glauber: No quick fix on horizon for Revis holdout

More than a month before the start of the regular season, it's still too early to proclaim the Darrelle Revis situation a crisis. But with the holdout entering its second week with no signs of closure, and with the rhetoric escalating on both sides, let's just say there's cause for concern.

For the first time since February, when the Jets approached Revis about renegotiating a deal with three years remaining, Rex Ryan spoke as if he'll have to do without his All-Pro cornerback for the foreseeable future.

"We have to prepare like he's not going to be here," Ryan said Monday. "If he comes walking through the door, that's fine. Someone will [probably] kiss him on the lips. It doesn't matter. We're getting this team ready. The guys that are here, we're getting ready. We can only coach who's here."

Until now, Ryan heaped nothing but lavish praise on Revis, who last year developed into the NFL's best cover corner under his tutelage. Ryan's effusiveness may even have emboldened him to ask for more than the $15.1-million yearly average earned by Nnamdi Asomugha of the Raiders.

The Jets are unwilling to go that high, in part because Asomugha's deal is more than $3 million above the average of the elite cornerbacks behind him. But the Jets are willing to give Revis more than $100 million, an offer he has rejected because there isn't enough guaranteed money.

Revis is dug in, and there are no indications he's ready to deal anytime soon. Complicating matters is the involvement of his uncle, former defensive tackle Sean Gilbert, who held out for an entire season in a contract dispute. In 1997, Gilbert rejected a five-year, $20-million offer from the Redskins. They traded him to the Panthers in 1998 and he signed a seven-year, $46.5-million deal.

Gilbert got his money, but the Panthers didn't get a good return; in five seasons with them, Gilbert had only 15½ sacks.

The Jets have no intention of trading Revis, nor should they; entering only his fourth season, he has many years ahead of him as an elite player. But that doesn't make the predicament any less complicated, and it's beginning to look as if Revis will not give in unless the Jets significantly up the ante.

And the Jets don't appear ready to veer too far from their offer, especially with Nick Mangold, David Harris, Santonio Holmes, Antonio Cromartie and Braylon Edwards each hoping for his pot of gold in the next year.

Does Revis deserve a new deal after outplaying his existing contract? You bet he does. But with three years left on a contract he held out for in 2007, should the Jets roll over for Revis' exorbitant demands? No way.

And if Revis wants to miss the entire season like his uncle, fine. The Jets still would have his rights for two more years after that.

Team owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum expressed pessimism Monday about a deal getting done before the regular season, this after a meeting Friday between Tannenbaum and Revis' agents, Neil Schwartz and Jonathan Feinsod. That sobering reaction, coupled with Ryan's comments about just coaching the players in camp, leads you to believe that this thing won't end quickly.

Not coincidentally, Ryan had first-round cornerback Kyle Wilson take snaps Monday with the first-team defense. And Ryan threw a few bouquets Wilson's way just for good measure.

"He's smart. He's starting to get it," Ryan said of the former Boise State star. "He still hasn't seen it all yet, but he's certainly coachable and I have the best coach in the business in Dennis Thurman. I think it's going to work. He's going to be a tremendous player for us."

He might have to be a tremendous player sooner than Ryan would have wanted. Especially if this Revis thing keeps getting uglier.