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Here we go again. It never stops. Just when you thought you heard the last of this story, it reared it’s ugly head once again.
The Jets thorn in their side, Daily News columnist Manish Mehta, was at it again today, kicking over the tampering anthill once again.
In a column today, he revisits the Jets pursuit of Darrelle Revis in 2015.
“Team officials in stealth communication mode with Revis, Inc., through private cell phones and face-to-face covert meetings at the 2015 Scouting Combine rather than make calls from the team’s landlines at their Florham Park facility,” wrote Mehta. “No paper trails were a must. [Owner Woody] Johnson, the driving force behind bringing back Revis to right a wrong in his mind, endorsed all of it.”
Keep in mind, the Jets were already fined $100,000 by the NFL in 2015 for tampering in relation to Revis. This was because Jets owner Woody Johnson said at a season-ending press conference in 2014, “I’d love for Darrelle to come back.” He got badgered with Revis questions by the media, and he slipped up in one of the answers. Media mission accomplished.
So since the Jets were already fined, Mehta’s story isn’t likely to lead to more fines.
Where did this new information come from? Most people think one of Revis’ former agents – Neil Schwartz or Jon Feinsod.
Who else could it be? It certainly wasn’t the Jets. That would make no sense. Why would they make themselves look bad. And the certainly don’t help Mehta, their biggest nightmare. So if it wasn’t the Jets, who else was in these supposed clandestine meetings – the agent(s).
Mehta is chummy with Schwartz and Feinsod, who are very helpful to the media. Mehta probably badgered them to give him something. He’s very aggressive and doesn’t take “no” for an answer.
You know what is kind of ridiculous about this supposed cloak-and-dagger spy thriller? Revis really didn’t have any other suitors.
Other teams weren’t interested in giving a 30-year-old cornerback a five-year deal for $70 million with $39 million guaranteed. The Jets were on an island with this one, Revis Island if you will.
So why people were running around like James Bond figures with supposed secret meetings and secret self-phone chats is beyond me.
Revis 2.0 has been a disaster across the board, and this new information, whether you chose to believe it or not, adds to the disaster.
The Jets never should have re-signed him. And if they did, it should have been for a lot less money. Personally, I wouldn’t have signed him, period.
Johnson made a huge mistake. He thought he was giving an early 2015 Christmas gift to the fans, but he was actually giving him a booby prize.
Jets fans can only hope that Johnson learned a lesson once and for all, after Brett Favre, Tim Tebow, Revis 2.0 and I would throw in the Mark Sanchez blockbuster draft-day trade. The lesson is stop making moves to grab the back page of the tabloids, to make a splash, to sell tickets.
Every one should be a sound football decision, without the hint of a PR element.
February 20, 2017
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