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NFL Free Agency: New York Jets Sign Darrelle Revis, Make Him Highest Paid CB in NFL

By Kenneth Teape

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NFL Free Agency: Revis Island Returning To New York Jets As Gang Green Makes Darrelle Revis Highest Paid CB In NFL

The New York Jets were very active in free agency prior to the new league year beginning, as they re-signed David Harris before the legal tampering period, and running back Bilal Powell shortly after free agency began. They also finalized the trade for Brandon Marshall that was agreed upon to last week. All those moves are nice, but the Jets got possibly the biggest prize of free agency, bringing back cornerback Darrelle Revis.

Revis, whom the Jets selected 14th overall in 2007, had the pleasure of Revis roaming their defensive backfield through 2012 before an ACL injury ended that season prematurely and made things kind of ugly between Revis and the Jets. They would not give him the new contract that he desired, so he was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He only lasted one season with the Buccaneers before he was released and picked up by the New England Patriots.

Revis won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in his lone season there, hitting the open market with a mind towards maximizing his potential earnings, and that is exactly what he did. Bringing Revis back to East Rutherford will cost a pretty penny, as the Jets offer makes him the highest paid cornerback in the NFL.

The contract the Jets and Revis agreed to is five years and $70 million, with $39 million guaranteed. The first three years of the deal is where Revis will make a killing, as he will earn $49 million and all of the guaranteed money. The first two years are guaranteed at $16 and $17 million, and in 2017 only $6 of the $17 million is guaranteed.

That is a lot of money for the Jets to cough up, but it is definitely worth it as they have seen what Revis is capable of, both benefiting and having it used against them. From 2007-2012 Revis was the undisputed best cornerback in the NFL, earning the moniker ‘Revis Island’ for his shut down play. He earned All-Pro honors three times prior to getting hurt in 2012, causing the uneasy divorce between him and the Jets.

There was always rumors about Revis returning, but with how things ended in 2012 it always seemed like it would be tough to smooth things over. But it seems that old wounds are easily healed over two years when this much money is given to you.

For the Jets, this is a win on multiple levels. They get the cornerback they have been looking for since Revis first left, but they also leave their division rival, the one every team in the AFC East is chasing in the New England Patriots, with a gaping hole.

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Plenty of people assumed that Revis would return to the Patriots after his lone season there, as going to a third team in three seasons is nothing an NFL player wants to do, but after declining his $20 million option for 2016, Revis hit the open market and the Jets pounced. The Patriots loss is the Jets gain as they have delivered a surprising blow to the reigning Super Bowl champs that they could not have seen coming.

The beginning of the Todd Bowles and Mike Maccagnan era has gotten off to a booming start, as the Jets landed their man in Revis they never wanted to get rid of in the first place. Bowles now has his new Patrick Peterson to lead his defensive backfield, as the Jets are much stronger now on paper and on the field than they were when they awoke this morning.

Next: Who was the best first-round pick in Jets history?

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