Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie Would Be Perfect for New York Jets Reunion

The New York Jets can party like it's 2010. 

Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie formed a dominant pair of starting cornerbacks in 2010 and 2011. With both men set to hit the open market in 2015, there's an outside shot that the Jets could reunite the two outside cornerbacks. 

An outside shot quickly becomes an inside shot when you consider the amount of cap space at the Jets' disposal—roughly $50 million, according to sports contracts website Spotrac. And it becomes almost necessary for the Jets to hit that inside shot if they want to revamp their secondary in time for the 2015 season.

Player	Ht	Wt	Exp
Dee Milliner	6'0"	201	2
Dexter McDougle	5'10"	196	1
Darrin Walls	6'0"	190	4
Philip Adams*	5'11"	195	5
Marcus Williams	5'11"	196	1
Kyle Wilson*	5'10"	190	5
Dashaun Phillips	5'11"	182	1
Keith Lewis	6'1"	190	1
Curtis Brown	6'0"	185	3

In total, the Jets defensive backs picked off six passes in 2014—tied for fewest interceptions in the league. 

"You've got to get more than [six] picks from the secondary, obviously," head coach Todd Bowles said at the combine, via NFL.com. "So, we've just got to make more plays. As we go forward and we see these guys on the field, and see what we have, we'll go forward from there. But we've got to get turnovers."

They're not going to get many turnovers unless they get better at cornerback.

Right now, the Jets are about as deep as first-grade literature at cornerback. That's thanks to a dormant free-agency phase in 2014 that saw the Jets sitting on their hands while the likes of Revis, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Aqib Talib, Brandon Browner and Alterraun Verner all became available on the open market.

But new general manager Mike Maccagnan can make amends for the failures of former general managers Mike Tannenbaum and John Idzik—the former for failing to stock the cornerback spot with developmental depth to prepare for the departures of top free agents, and the latter for failing to address the top cornerback spots when he had the chance.

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Former Jets head coach Rex Ryan needed top-flight perimeter cornerbacks to execute his scheme, and new head coach Todd Bowles will need them for the same. Ryan asked his cornerbacks to press the receiver at the line of scrimmage and run with them stride-for-stride in the open field. Bowles demanded those same things of his cornerbacks as defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals.

The Cardinals defense ranked eighth in defensive passer rating in 2013 and 11th in 2014 under Bowles' tutelage. That was thanks to strong performances from the likes of Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu. It's fair to wonder whether his scheme would be as successful without dominant, starting-caliber cornerbacks. We already saw the ill effects of a lack of talented defensive backs in Ryan's scheme.

What it would cost the Jets is likely of no consequence, as with $50 million in cap space, the Jets have enough freedom to make the two signings happen regardless.

They will need to leave themselves with enough room to make other signings, but let's say Revis makes $14.02 million per year (making him the highest-paid cornerback in the league) and Cromartie makes $8 million per year (which would put him in the top 15). That would add up to an average of $22.02 million per year, and it would still leave the Jets with more than $27 million in cap space.

That's still plenty of money to spend on filling other positions of need. Although it may prohibit the Jets from making other big-name signings, the Jets simply need to be smarter about how they invest their money at other positions by finding good bargain options on the open market.

If it means finding the right fits to execute Bowles' scheme, it may be a worthwhile price to pay. Besides, money ain't a thing.

This isn't just about putting together a feel-good offseason story for the Jets media this offseason. Revis and Cromartie are perfect fits for the Jets; it's happenstance that they are both available at the same time.