CRITICAL CHOICE
Off-field issues shouldn’t be reason Jets ditch Revis
THE Jets have known for months they have a Darrelle Revis decision coming.
It was pretty clear early last season that Revis’ play had slipped and all eyes turned to March 10 when the Jets have to make a choice about whether to pay Revis a $2 million roster bonus, cut him loose or try to rework his contract.
The events of last week in the early morning hours on a Pittsburgh street corner should do nothing to change whatever decision the Jets likely made weeks, if not months, ago.
The rush to judgment on Revis in some quarters is awful. He deserves his day in court and the benefit of the doubt until then. For eight years as a Jet, Revis has never sniffed trouble. Unlike many of his fellow athletes, he has not made headlines because of how he treated women or for getting behind the wheel drunk or doing drugs. About the most aggressive thing Revis has done off the field is hanging up the phone on Mike Francesa that time.
So, why is everyone so quick to convict Revis and kick him to the curb?
That is how it often goes with salacious charges and famous figures. People don’t stop to consider there are two sides to the story and let’s see how this plays out before making any proclamations.
Having spent a decent amount of time around Revis over the past decade, I find it hard to believe he went looking for a fight. That’s not Revis.
Is it possible he lost his cool at someone filming him on the street at 2:30 a.m.? Yes. But let’s take the worst case scenario here. Let’s say Revis lost his temper, threw the guy’s cellphone into the road and punched him and his friend. Does that deserve four felony charges? Something does not seem right about this. We’re not talking about Aaron Hernandez and a multi-state killing spree.
Again, at worst it sounds like Revis got into a latenight fight, and it seems like it is less than that after the TMZ video that surfaced of a voice that sounded nothing like Revis.
That’s why the idea the Jets should now cut ties with Revis immediately is silly. I would argue the crimes of Revis’ teammates Sheldon Richardson and Austin Seferian-Jenkins are worse than this. Richardson tried to elude police two years ago in Missouri while doing 140 miles per hour with a registered gun and a child in the car, which police said smelled like marijuana. The Jets claimed SeferianJenkins off waivers from the Buccaneers three days after his second DUI charge. The Jets did nothing to either man. The NFL suspended Richardson for one game. The Jets rewarded Seferian-Jenkins by picking him up.
The Jets likely have more information on the Revis arrest than the public. They have their own investigators, all with law enforcement backgrounds. But chances are this will take months to adjudicate. The Jets don’t have months to wait on their decision, which must come before that roster bonus is due March 10. That is why this decision should be about football in the end. Do they think he has anything left? If not, then they were going to cut him anyway. If they do, then it is going to require a pay cut and possibly a position change to safety, no givens.
The Jets’ decision needs to be based on game film, not police video. Revis has earned that.