Woody Johnson on Revis: Like doing a term paper

Jets owner Woody Johnson met with the media a few minutes ago in the Jets' press room, and put the Darrelle Revis negotiations into terms we can all understand. When asked why it came down to a deadline situation just a week before the Ravens-Jets opener next Monday at New Meadowlands Stadium, Johnson said: 

"It was like me doing term papers in college. I wait until four hours before [they were due] and then had to do it. Things move at the last second quite often. I’m used to that. I’m glad it happened this way."

Johnson wouldn't go so far as to say his weekend visit with Revis in South Florida - in which he and head coach Rex Ryan met with Revis, his mother, Diana Gilbert, and his uncle, Sean Gilbert, the former Redskins defensive tackle - was the turning point in the deal. But it sure didn't hurt to meet with the holdout cornerback and his close family members.

"I had a better feling than when I went in," Johnson said of the meeting. "I felt like 50 percent, plus a point or two."

Johnson said the timing of the situation - namely next week's game - was a deciding factor.

"It was a matter of the season being upon us," Johnson said. "The Ravens are [Sept.] 13, 7 o'clock, ESPN, at our new stadium. That's a fact o flife. There are plays to learn. There's getting in shape. There are all those things you have to do as a football player. I think the schedule was one of the more compelling parts of it."

Johnson said he and Ryan did discuss the parameters and financial terms of a deal, and eventually came to the conclusion that a four-year contract would be satisfactory for both parties.

"We talked about numbers," he said. "Let’s see if we can leave this room with something. Four years is long term. The other one (a 10-year contract) was really long term. Four years is not a short term deal."

Johnson extended the contracts of two other key Jets' players, center Nick Mangold and left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, without either playing holding out. I asked the owner if he felt a similar deal to the one Revis agreed to could be achieved without a holdout. 

"That's speculation. I don't know," he said. "You'd like to think you could get something done without doing this [holding out]." 

 

This is a four-year deal and I hope his career goes until he’s 45," Johnson said. "We'd like him to be a Jet, but it takes two to tango here. I’m happy to have him for four years, which is about the average of a player’s life in the NFL. That'll be a total of seven years with Revis. What could be better?"