Jets CB Darrelle Revis takes shot at Mark Sanchez: ‘We didn’t have a quarterback’
BY JUSTIN TASCH NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, July 21, 2015, 3:52 PM A A A
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In 2011, Mark Sanchez and Darrelle Revis chat as then-Jet teammates.
With Darrelle Revis highlighting an offseason of major improvement for the Jets and their new regime, the returning cornerback believes these Jets will have to win in a similar manner as they did in reaching the 2009 and 2010 AFC Championship games, painting an unflattering picture of Mark Sanchez in the process.
In a new Sports Illustrated cover story in which Revis recreates SI’s cover and poolside photoshoot with Joe Namath from 50 years ago, Revis talked about those two near-Super Bowl-misses and fired a Broadway Joe-like shot at the former Jets signal-caller.
“We almost made it, and we didn’t have a quarterback,” Revis told SI. The story then notes how Revis maybe realized how that came across and added “Mark was solid. He wasn’t elite.”
Geno Smith certainly isn’t elite, and he’ll have to prove he can be solid this season. The Jets once again have a talent-rich defense and brought in wide receiver Brandon Marshall to give Smith a legitimate No. 1 target.
Revis addresses many topics in the wide-ranging magazine piece, prominent among them his lamenting of NFL economics. The corner has navigated the muddy NFL contract-negotiating waters better than anyone, maximizing his value by betting on himself. The deal that brought him back to the Jets — a five-year, $70 million pact — guarantees him $39 million. Still, Revis is frustrated by the system the players agreed to in the collective bargaining agreement in which many players can be cut without cost after poor seasons or not be rewarded enough for out-performing their deals.
“We’re fighting against 32 billionaires,” Revis says in the SI story. “A lot of guys are brainwashed, feeding into the system. It’s genius how the NFL did it.”
Darrell Revis strikes a Joe Namath-like pose on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which recreated its classic Broadway Joe cover with the Jets cornerback for its latest issue.
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Darrell Revis strikes a Joe Namath-like pose on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which recreated its classic Broadway Joe cover with the Jets cornerback for its latest issue.
In a league where a player’s career, or even life, can change in an instant from a bad injury, or suffer long-term damage from repeated hits to the head, guaranteed money must be negotiated and only comes in fractions compared to their overall deals. This is in contrast to the NBA, where most of the contracts are fully guaranteed.
“We’re really jealous of that,” Revis said, referring to the business of basketball. “If only this was the NBA.”
Revis has managed to do quite well for himself the last few years. After the Jets traded him to Tampa Bay in 2013, Revis signed an unguaranteed six-year, $96 million deal, although the first year was essentially guaranteed because there was no chance the Buccaneers would cut him before his first season with the team was over. He earned $17 million in 2013, after which the Bucs did release him because he wasn’t a fit for Tampa’s Cover-2 scheme. He then signed a one-year, $12 million deal with the Patriots with a $20 million second-year team option, which the Patriots declined after Revis helped them win the Super Bowl.
That set up Revis’ return to the Jets, with new general manager Mike Maccagnan ponying up to bring Revis Island “home,” as Revis described it.
Revis also briefly addressed the Patriots not allowing his mother Diana to the team’s Super Bowl ring ceremony last month. “If that’s how they want to do things, that’s fine,” he said. “I’m not going to waste my time on it.”
