If you’ve been watching HBO’s “Hard Knocks: Training Camp With The New York Jets” you already know the coaching staff has been sweating bullets over whether or not “Revis Island” would return to the team. The wait is finally over and after more than a month of holding out for more cash, the Jets have signed their All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis to a new deal where he’s guaranteed $32 milli!
The Jets agreed to a deal in principle with All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis around 11:45 pm on Sunday night. It’s a 4-year, $46 million deal – with $32 million guaranteed – according to sources. (It’s technically a 7-year deal that will easily be voided to four years).
A few hours after the Daily News first reported on Twitter Sunday night that Rex Ryan flew down to South Florida on Saturday to meet with Darrelle Revis to discuss the contract impasse, the deal was done.
After midnight, Revis wrote this message on his official Twitter account: “To my family, neil, & john I love u guys I’m comin home baby!!! Revis Island LET’S GO.”
Minutes later, Revis tweeted again: “it not has only been hard on u guys but it has for me too. I just want to tell yall that I’m sorry for this process and I can’t wait to get back on the field.”
Revis will fly up to New Jersey Monday to sign the contract.
General manager Mike Tannenbaum later confirmed that Ryan flew down to Florida along with owner Woody Johnson to meet with Revis, his mother Diana Gilbert and his uncle Sean Gilbert.
“That happened pretty quick,” general manager Mike Tannenbaum said. “We had countless meetings, countless meals, countless Roscoe Diners … We just felt like it was not going to get done in the traditional dynamic. It happened real quick. It was a really important step to get Sean, Diana, Darrelle, Rex and Woody together. Again we talked all day (Sunday). Finally we were able to nudge it across the line. There’s no question that without that step, I doubt we’d be sitting where we are right now.”
Tannenbaum said it’d be up to Ryan whether Revis will play in the Sept. 13 season opener, but sources told the Daily News that Revis will definitely be ready to go for the Jets Monday night season opener against the Baltimore Ravens.
Revis, who was scheduled to earn $1 million in the fourth-year of his six-year rookie deal, came to an agreement on a new deal on the 36th day of his holdout.
According to sources, Revis spent part of his holdout in South Florida, where he owns a home, training with former NFL cornerback and mentor Ty Law, who grew up in the same hometown of Aliquippa, PA.
After a public war of words in the first week of the holdout, both sides agreed to a media blackout last month.
Ryan was scheduled to be on a conference call with reporters Saturday at 6:15 p.m., but the team abruptly announced that general manager Mike Tannenbaum would be taking his place on the call.
At 1 a.m. Monday, Tannenbaum said on a conference call that there was “a significant breakthrough” in negotiations just past 11 p.m. on Saturday.
“I really wasn’t optimistic,” Tannenbaum said. “I really wasn’t. It was really collectively a hard set of dynamics. I’m an optimist by nature. This was really hard. There was a lot of heavy lifting, a lot of work put into it … I’m just happy with the result. … Until it was done, I really did not think he’d be here.”
Now, Revis is back.
“I think this is a great deal for Darrelle and I think it’s responsible for the club. From that standpoint, I think it’s a win-win,” Tannenbaum said. “I’m happy. I’m relieved. Obviously, Darrelle’s a great player. He’s our guy. He’s an important piece to what we’re trying to accomplish here. You always want to take care of your own guys when you can. We were working at this for a long, long time. So to finally get a landing spot, I think it’s a testament to both sides. … I don’t think anybody wanted it to take as long as it did, but it did. Now we can put it behind us and move on to Baltimore.”
“There wasn’t a lot of activity for a while,” Tannenbaum added. “We talked. Weeks would go by, nothing would happen. Then things heated up again. … The whole time, I wasn’t optimistic until the last few hours.”
When it was over, Ryan’s reaction was as entertaining as it was predictable.
“I think I had to medicate the head coach,” Tannenbaum said with a laugh. “We were really happy.”
Congratulations Darrelle!!! Now stay sharp ‘cuz the Groupie Lovin’ is about to get redonkulous…
Darrelle was already popular with the ladies, having been previously linked romantically to singers Olivia and Letoya Luckett, it should be interesting to see who flocks to him next now that he is BIG BALLIN’! SMH
Comments
Bossip Comment Policy
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.