Jets still see no end in sight for Revis' holdout
"I told him exactly what I'm telling you," the Jets' owner said. " 'This is not acceptable, Braylon. I'm disappointed. You let yourself down. You let the team down.' " Credit: Getty Images, 2008
CORTLAND, N.Y. - With each passing day of a holdout that's getting nastier by the minute, the Jets are beginning to come to grips with the distinct possibility that Darrelle Revis may not be around anytime soon. If at all.
"Darrelle is one of our best players and we want him here," safety Jim Leonhard said Tuesday. "Everybody wants him here and there's no secret about that. It hurts that he's not here. But at the same time, we have a lot to focus on. We can't get caught up in that.
"There is a business side to this game and sometimes it gets ugly. And that seems to be the case right now."
Things got a bit uglier Tuesday.
Woody Johnson made the rounds, speaking at an HBO "Hard Knocks" noon rally in Times Square and later on 1050 ESPN Radio and the Rockies-Mets broadcast on SNY. The Jets' owner reiterated what he told the media at SUNY Cortland a day earlier: that he doesn't see a new deal with the All-Pro cornerback happening, and that Revis might not play this season.
Revis, who's scheduled to earn $1 million in base salary in the fourth year of a six-year contract, has demanded a new deal worth more than the $15.1 million Raiders cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha averages per season. Revis is adamant about not reporting without a new deal.
"As I said yesterday,'' Johnson said at the rally, "I don't think it's going to happen at this point."
Johnson took things a step further during the radio and television interviews, saying he wanted to attend Friday's meeting with Revis' agents at the Roscoe Diner but wasn't allowed to. General manager Mike Tannenbaum, along with Ari Nissim of the Jets' football operations department, met with Jonathan Feinsod and Neil Schwartz. Johnson said he was "rebuffed."
"That is completely untrue," Feinsod said. "We would love to meet with Mr. Johnson, anywhere, any time . . . If Rex [Ryan] wants to be there, that's fine."
The Jets have stated that total compensation is the hang-up and have maintained that they would be open to giving Revis a signing bonus.
"As I said at the start of training camp,'' Tannenbaum said, "our offer to Darrelle Revis conveyed that we are flexible on how the guaranteed money is structured, including the areas of signing bonus, roster bonus and option bonus. This situation revolves around a fundamental disagreement in total compensation.''
But Feinsod said the Jets have yet to approach them with an offer that has one single cent included as a signing bonus. "We've never received a proposal from the Jets ever with any signing bonus," he said.
Revis has been slapped with $165,230 in fines for his 10-day holdout, a number that seems destined to climb deeper into six figures - or beyond. But Ryan isn't about to ask commissioner Roger Goodell to cancel the season.
"Honestly, don't feel sorry for us," Ryan said. "We have everything we need right here on defense. With the addition of [Antonio] Cromartie, that was enormous for this football team, and so is the fact that we drafted Kyle Wilson, who is an outstanding player. That helps us a great deal.
"Again, the proof will be in the pudding, and the great thing is we get to prove it. We'll see what happens when we kick it off. We're not afraid of anybody."
