CORTLAND, N.Y. (AP) - The New York Jets reported for training camp with high hopes _ and without perhaps their best player.
All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis is holding out while locked in a contract dispute with the team. And there’s no telling how long he might stay away.
“Darrelle and his family were extremely deliberate with the decision-making process,” agent Neil Schwartz told the Associated Press on Sunday. “Obviously his actions speak far louder than words.”
Revis didn’t show for the team’s conditioning test Sunday morning at the Jets’ training facility in Florham Park, N.J. He officially became a holdout when he missed the team’s first meeting at 5:30 p.m. in Cortland.
Not good news for a team with its sights set on a Super Bowl.
“The lines of communication are open and we remain committed to finding a solution that makes sense for him and makes sense for us,” general manager Mike Tannenbaum said. “The two things that we’ve all agreed upon is that Darrelle has outplayed his contract and it needed to be addressed, and he has three years to go on his contract.”
Revis is to make $1 million in the fourth year of his six-year rookie deal, making him one of the lowest-paid defensive backs on the team this season. He wants to be the league’s highest-paid cornerback, a distinction that belongs to Nnamdi Asomugha, who signed a three-year, $45.3 million extension last offseason.
Tannenbaum, saying he’s “an eternal optimist,” added that the main disagreement between the sides is in total compensation.
“That is the threshold issue we have,” he said.
Schwartz and agent Jon Feinsod said both sides worked until the last minute to get something done. Tannenbaum said the team made three offers in the last 72 hours: a long-term deal that would keep him with the Jets for life, a short-term deal and a face-to-face meeting _ and all were denied.
By holding out, Revis will be fined $16,523 for each day he’s not with the team and waived a clause in his contract which would have guaranteed him $20 million over the last two years of his deal.
“He’s a great player, the best corner I’ve ever been around,” coach Rex Ryan said. “So, certainly, I’m disappointed. I really thought, in my heart, he would be signed by now and we wouldn’t be having these conversations.”
Revis said in May that both Tannenbaum and Ryan told him they believe he should be the league’s highest-paid cornerback. After all, he was coming off a season in which he routinely handled opponents’ top receivers and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Revis also said the Jets promised him his contract situation would be taken care of by training camp.
He sat out a few plays in minicamp, saying he was lightheaded at the time but the negotiations also played a role in him sitting.
In his absence, first-round pick Kyle Wilson _ who signed a five-year, $13 million deal late Saturday night _ will get time with the first-team defense along with Antonio Cromartie and Dwight Lowery.
“He’s a great player and a player of that magnitude, he will be missed,” defensive tackle Kris Jenkins said. “But, we have some great guys backing him up and they’re going to do what they have to do.”
All-Pro center Nick Mangold is also looking for a contract extension, but unlike Revis, showed up on time for camp.
“We decided it would be best for me to be in camp,” he said. “That’s the decision we made, and we’re moving forward.”
He’s making $3.3 million entering the final year of his rookie deal. Mangold said he wasn’t bothered to hear that both Ryan and Tannenbaum were recently given contract extensions while he waits for his.
“They’re working down the totem pole and they’ll get to me in a couple of years, I guess,” Mangold said with a laugh. “You don’t try to read too much into it because then you become paranoid.”
Also Sunday, the Jets’ fourth-round draft pick, running back Joe McKnight, passed a conditioning test that he initially failed.
Wide receiver Santonio Holmes was given a later mandatory report date of Wednesday so he can attend to a family matter. Holmes wrote on this Twitter page a few days ago that his son was in the hospital, but it was uncertain if that was the reason for the delay.
Meanwhile, Jenkins (hamstring) and backup quarterback Kellen Clemens (calf) were placed on the active-physically unable to perform list. Both downplayed the injuries and said they would be OK.
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