Darrelle Revis Isn't Just New York Jets' Problem: Issue for the NFL, Too

The boisterous Rex Ryan has never been at a loss for words. At least not since he has taken over the New York Jets, anyway.

Ryan doesn’t concern himself with being politically correct, nor does he shudder over the possibility of providing bulletin board material. In fact, he loves this stuff. He wants his guys to know that he believes in them. And if that happens to fire up the opposition, so be it.

Ryan likes the challenge.

Which is precisely why he set the tone for the season in his introductory press conference last year.

Rex Ryan took the Jets job to win, not build a contender and annually succumb to the misery that J-E-T-S supporters have come to expect.

“I never came here to kiss Bill Belichick’s rings,” Ryan said last year. “I came here to win.”

Win Super Bowls, that is.

It happened to be that newly-elected President Barack Obama moved into the White House at the same time Ryan moved into his new green-and-white digs in New York. Sitting at his press conference, the coach thought of President Obama.

"With all the cameras, I was looking for [President Obama] back there," Ryan said. "I think we’ll get to meet him in the next couple of years anyway."

Yes, the traditional White House visit that accompanies a Super Bowl championship had already crossed Ryan’s mind.

With rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez and the running attack led by the supposedly declining Thomas Jones, nobody thought Ryan could actually sniff the big game in his first season. He did.

With confidence, swagger, and moxie, Ryan forced the Jets to believe in themselves until the day the Indianapolis Colts ended their season in the AFC Championship Game.

How did they do it?

By playing a measured offensive game and cutting the league’s best defense loose. The Jets led the NFL in total defense and against the pass. They forced teams to run the football—where they ranked eighth in the league on D—and that fit the style of game that they wanted to play.

The Jets enter 2010 as an AFC favorite with much of last year’s team back. New York cut Jones—who rushed for career-highs of 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns last year—after they couldn’t come to an agreement on a new contract.

Jones quickly signed a two-year deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Shonn Greene will become the starter at running back, and LaDainian Tomlinson will spell him. Sanchez should be more comfortable under center. Wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery will be a primary target as will tight end Dustin Keller.

But success will always come down to defense for the Jets and that’s the problem as camp commences.

The team's best defensive player, Darrelle Revis, isn’t there. The fourth-year cornerback wants a new contract, and all indications suggest he will continue his holdout until he becomes one of the top-paid defensive backs in football.

"The lines of communication are open and we remain committed to finding a solution that makes sense for him and makes sense for us," Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum told reporters at camp. “The two things that we’ve all agreed upon is that Darrelle has outplayed his contract and it needed to be addressed.”

Revis has three seasons to go on his six-year rookie deal he signed in 2007 and the deal calls for Revis to make approximately one million dollars in 2010. Revis wants to be the league's highest-paid cornerback, which would be about a $15 million increase in salary.

The Oakland Raiders signed cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha to a three-year, $45.3 million extension last offseason. Revis believes his market value exceeds Asomugha’s deal.

It’s hard to disagree with Revis as he is widely considered the best cornerback in the NFL.

But it seems almost unfathomable that the Jets would give Revis that much money when they still have him under contract for three seasons and with a potential lockout looming if the owners and union can’t come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement next year.

The current CBA expires in March 2011.

In Revis v. New York Jets, the Jets hold the leverage.

This seems like a problem for the Jets and Revis, which it is, but it’s more than that. Player compensation is a league-wide problem under the current CBA, an issue that all stems from the uncontrollable rookie pay scale. The next CBA will surely address this, but some ideas floated around lack general perspective.

For example, a hard rookie salary cap cannot be implemented without any other contractual logistics. The player cannot be shouldered with all the responsibility while the team hedges its bets.

So what should the league do about it? There may not be a right or wrong answer, but it needs to get creative.

We all can agree that rookie contracts are out of whack.

Sam Bradford, this year’s No. 1 overall pick, received $50 million in guaranteed money from the St. Louis Rams without taking a single snap as a professional.

Ndamukong Suh, the No. 2 pick, agreed to donate $2.6 million to Nebraska University. That’s $2.6 million that Suh doesn’t even have yet, as the Detroit Lions have yet to reach agreement with their top selection.

A possible solution to the madness would be to implement a restriction on total years and dollars for rookie contracts. Limit all rookie deals to, say, three years and salaries proportional to position.

For example, no rookie should earn in the top 50 percent of starting players at their position. So no, Sam Bradford wouldn’t automatically earn more than Peyton Manning, Brett Favre, and Ben Roethlisberger.

This would still allow rookies to make a salary close to their market value, which is important because the NFL is a win-now league.

Top rookies are immediately on the field and asked to perform. If their performance warrants it, they should be compensated accordingly.

But the money would be controlled. You don’t earn your big payday by being drafted. That would give players incentive to perform and excel if they want to sign their “big” contract. Isn’t that one of the big complaints anyway? That rookies should have to earn their money?

Incentive is good.

On the flip side, the three-year limit would protect the player.

If a rookie comes into the league and becomes one of the top players at his position within a year or two (which, by the way, rarely happens), then he knows that after his third year he can dictate his salary. The team can’t keep him under contract for six years, a la the Jets and Revis, when the performance clearly exceeds the contract.

Is it a perfect compromise? Of course not.

But the foundation of it seems fair. Quarterbacks get the most money in the draft yet it always takes a young quarterback a few seasons to excel.

Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco are success stories, yet they are not two of the five best quarterbacks in the NFL as they enter their third seasons. They would be playing for new deals this year. Think that would fire them up? And in the end, the team wants them to leapfrog expectations.

That means the team is likely winning.

But at some point the NFL needs to realize it’s not a “we” problem, it’s a “you” problem.

The Jets need Darrelle Revis if Rex Ryan wants to make that White House visit.

But it’s the system that is halting business on Revis Island. Lets hope the Jets don’t suffer because of it.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter. You can reach him at [e-mail].