At this point I kind of have to ask a question, and it's an important one. We all know that Darrelle Revis is a very talented cornerback and we all know that he had about as good a year as you can have last year, in Rex Ryan's defense as he rearranged it for a pass rush poor team. How do we know he's the best cornerback in football? What would Asante Samuel have done in his place last year in the same defense? What would Champ Bailey have done? What did Darrelle Revis actually do the year before in Eric Mangini's defense? How does that relate to what Samuel or Bailey would have done in that defense? I don't necessarily think that Revis claim to being the best CB in football is valid at this point after 1 year in Ryan's defense. I don't think his claim that he should be paid as if he's the best is valid either. I think he should go out and conclusively prove that he is the best cornerback in football by duplicating his results of last year next season. We are so far ahead of the process here it's not funny.
I agree to a small degree. I certainly believe Rex's system contributes, in general, to a CBs ability to cover receivers, simply by limiting the amount of time a QB has to make decisions with the football. That much is clear. However, if you watch, and I mean really watch, the games from this past season, Revis has an incredibly rare ability to predict receivers' routes, make breaks on the ball, get his head around, etc. The man is simply a phenomenal CB, and excels in man-to-man coverage. I would say he has done just as much for our defensive scheme as the scheme has done for him. Truly, him and the scheme compliment each other perfectly. So, yes, Rex's system affords him the ability to be a literal shutdown corner. Outside of this system, I still fully believe he would be almost nearly as productive, and still considered the best CB, hands down.
First, Hobbes will start with an emphatic, absolute statement: Then, he will begin the next paragraph by contradiction his emphatic, absolute statement: For starters, the contract was already voided by week 12 of his rookie season. As for the buy-back, why only settle for two seasons from a guy who can still leave at the age of 27 for a team that'll show him the love he always wanted? Or have him spend two seasons demanding a trade because he is pissed off that the Jets don't value him enough to pay him what he is worth. ...and thank you for the proof that you have no idea of how Rex Ryan's defense works or how high he values corners. The Jets have been bringing in more corners than any other position in the past two offseasons. We traded for Lito Sheppard and signed Donald Strickland last season, then we traded for Antonio Cromartie and drafted Kyle Wilson in the first round this season. Our investment in CBs increased from year one to year two under Rex. What does that tell you about how important Rex feels corners are to his system? How about the fact that Rex talks about Revis more than anyone else on the defense and will not hesitate to tell the press how happy he is that he has the best corner in the league. How about all of the articles that came out over the course of the season and leading up to the draft about how Rex's system builds from the secondary to the front. Cornerback is the most important position on Rex's defense and Revis is the best corner on the field. That's why Rex sees him as the most important player on this unit. Because he was such crap last season? He was top three last season. He's moving into his second year in Rex's defense where he was already the best player on the field. Revis has a lot of steam going into next year. That was actually really helpful for your argument...if this was week five of last season. By the end of the year, it was pretty obvious that he was the best in the business. You would be hard pressed to find that kind of guarded optimism after the AFCC unless it was coming out of Miami or Indianapolis media.
Who else in the league right now has gone threw what Revis went threw last year and came out almost completely unscathed? That's how we know he's the best corner in football. He shut down Andre Johnson, Steve Smith, Marques Colston, Roddy White, Vincent Jackson, Randy Moss twice, Terrell Owens twice, Chad Ochocinco twice, Reggie Wayne 1.5 times. If you need more than that, than I don't know at what point you could actually be satisfied. And how does the fact that he did this in his first year in a defense that was so far removed from the one in which he played the previous two seasons not help his case?
Plus it's a poor argument, because no one expects Sanchez to be anything more than an effective, above-average QB. Revis is the best player at his position in the sport. * Within the next 3 years Sanchez will be best Quarterback in football, the guy is a natural winner.
Cornerback is the most important position on Rex's defense and Revis is the best corner on the field. That's why Rex sees him as the most important player on this unit. * I dont agree, nose tackle is most important position on Rex defense. If the nose tackle doesnt play very well the 3-4 gets killed by the run, then you have to bring extra guys to stop the run and they start passing on you, and if the nose tackle does not occupy at least 2 blockers there are no holes for the many Blitzs Ryans likes to use.
This isn't Mangini's defense. When our probowl NT went down the defense didn't really miss a beat, in fact it got better at stopping the run as the season went on.
All we know is that he was the best CB in the NFL last season. We don't know that he's the best CB moving forward, more on that below. I need to see him do it again. Again, more on that below. The fact that he did it in the first season of a defense that was designed to allow him to excel by giving him man-to-man coverage, in very narrow windows available to the opposing QB to accurately deliver the ball, leads me to wonder how he will do after NFL offenses have film of the whole process to study for a whole off season. If he does it again then clearly he's the main factor involved. If he can't replicate it then it's more likely it was Rex Ryan's defense and opposing offenses have figured out how to partially neutralize the effect. Revis needs another season of performance at that level if he wants to claim the best CB mantle. He's a season early in his demands, both in terms of the contract status and in terms of the evidence he's using to back up the claim.
You have to pick one. Aside from Rex saying that he's the main focal point of the defense do you really need more proof?
I agree that Revis needs to validate himself by repeating the same shutdown performance; but as far as the questions you're posing in regards to Revis' ability as it relates to the Defensive scheme... Watch Revis in this scheme and then watch all of our other CBs (who manned less-talented WRs than Revis manned) in the very same scheme.
Bottom line is, as someone stated in an earlier post, if he is a true leader on this team, then he should not try and handcuff the team with a 16mil cap hit because of the 'out in left field' contract Oakland gave Asu - most likely preventing the re-signing of one of the other 3 core players. 12mil a season for 5-6-7yrs would be an appropriate amount. This way, he is the 2nd highest paid CB (if I am not mistaken), leaving more room for the Jets to lock up Harris, Mangold & Fergusan. And if this type of contract were to take place and I was Revis, I would push for my contract to state that if one of those core players does not get re-signed then my salary increases by 14 or 15 or 16mil per year for remainder of the contract...or something like that. This gets him paid and provides incentive for management to lock up the other 3 core players. I had Revis on a pedestal, even before this past season...but after this greed talk, he's dropped significantly. Revis: lets see some leadership! Not a 'gotta get mine at any cost' attitude
A couple of points here If the owners lock out because of revenue sharing, that would be horrible becaue that means they can't agree among themselves regardless of proposals from NFLPA as to how the money should be split. The NFL does not have an anti-trust exemption. Hopefully the owners are working on their cohesiveness so as to present a unfied proposal to the players union on how to deal with the revenue generated by the league.
