- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The start of free agency in the National Football League is a chance for players to fill their bank accounts as they never have before.
Qualified players who have patiently played out their contracts are allowed to leave their teams and seek out the best deal they can find.
The NFL opened its coffers Tuesday for the start of the 2015 season, and no player had a better day than All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis, who left the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots and signed a five-year, $70 million deal with the New York Jets, the team that had drafted him originally.
Revis had this message for Jets fans: “I’m happy to be home, I never wanted to leave!”
Revis is widely acknowledged as the best cornerback in the NFL and he was brilliant in the postseason, when the Patriots defeated the Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts and the Seattle Seahawks.
His scintillating play was a key part of the Patriots winning their fourth Super Bowl overall and their first in 10 years.
The Patriots struggled to slow down opponents’ passing attacks before signing Revis. He joined New England prior to the 2014 season when he signed a two-year contract. However, that contract would have required the Patriots to pay him $20 million in 2015, and that was too high a price for head coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft, so they decided to let him become a free agent.
They wanted to keep Revis, but at a more favourable price. The Patriots did not expect the Jets to come through with such a huge offer.
The rivalry between the Jets and Patriots has long been one-sided in favour of the defending Super Bowl champions, so this signing represents a huge victory for the Jets. While they have much more work to do, they are a better team today than they were in 2014 when they finished with a 4-12 record and ended up in last place in the AFC East.
Revis has racked up nearly 400 tackles, 23 interceptions and 6 forced fumbles in 111 career games with the Jets, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots. Those numbers are sensational and head and shoulders better than any of the other top cornerbacks in the league. What makes his performance even more impressive is that most teams recognise his ability and try to throw to the opposite side of the field, away from him.
In his previous tenure with the Jets, from 2007-2012, bombastic Rex Ryan was his head coach. Ryan was fired at the end of the disastrous season and new head coach Todd Bowles is the beneficiary of this signing. Bowles had been the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals, and is respected as one of the best defensive minds in the game.
The combination of Bowles and Revis should be formidable.
Belichick knows that his team has suffered a big loss, but don’t expect him to feel sorry for himself. He will no longer have the best cover cornerback in football, but the Pats will clearly make other signings and adjustments to remain an elite team.
Among players on the current roster, Brandon Browner could slide into the No. 1 role if he returns to New England. Browner is also a free agent, and while the Patriots were expected to let him leave, they may change their minds as a result of losing Revis.
Kyle Arrington, Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler will compete for additional playing time. The question is whether any of those players are good enough to fill a full-time starter’s role. The Patriots could also further explore the free-agent market or look to the draft for another player to help fill the void.
The start of free agency in the NFL has always been an important time of the year. While teams have to do the majority of their building by drafting successfully over a three- or four-year period, a team can set a tone for a successful year by making a big-impact signing.
The Jets have done just that and they have also weakened their arch-rivals and Super Bowl champions.
Hey, supercoach? Choose your own ultimate NFL team and compete with other players for cash prizes in daily competitions on any match. If you’re after the best odds on the NFL, PlayUp is your best bet. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.