When a person is segregated, trapped, isolated from the rest of humanity for any lengthy amount of time, they tend to ruminate, think endlessly about problems that are bothering them. When a person thinks for too long, they can become incredibly convinced of things, ideas, to the point where they become intractable. Sometimes people think about things for so long and so hard that they are incapable of seeing anything beyond their own narrow mindset, beyond the shores of their own little world.
See where I’m going here?
Many wonder what Darrelle Revis is thinking, sitting out practice, missing out on being on the HBO series “Hard Knocks”, not getting paid anything at all, etc. If you really want to know some possible reasons why Revis may be taking the route he is taking, why don’t we imagine what his view of the world from the Island has been like in the post-season. I now bring you to The Island, without the aid of JJ Abrams.
Head Coach Rex Ryan and GM Mike Tannenbaum both assured everyone that starting CB Kerry Rhodes would be a Jet in September. Rhodes didn’t even make it to April before he was traded to the Arizona Cardinals. But is that enough for Revis to lose faith in Jets management keeping their word? After all, word is that Rhodes wanted off of the Jets and onto the much-more glamorous Giants. His absence can be explained away…
RB Thomas Jones did everything he could for the Jets last year. He did his best Curtis Martin impression, rushing for 1,000+ yards in 5 consecutive season, and scoring the game-sealing TD over the Chargers that moved the Jets into the AFC Championship game. Surely, SURELY he would be rewarded for his valor and courage, for his hard work and pluck and vinegar, right? Ah, but Jones was due a $3 million Bonus and a $2.8 million base salary this season, so he too, bulwark of the offense, is no longer a New York Jet.
Well, that’s curious, but there couldn’t possibly be a third incident to make Revis rethink his security as a Jet, could there?
No. Well, not unless you count Leon Washington. RB Leon Washington was so important to the Jets Offense that they named their “wildcat” plays “Seminole”, a reference to the fact that Leon graduated from Florida State. He was a superb compliment to Thomas Jones, until he suffered a compound fracture of his fibula in the middle of the 2009 season. April 15th of this year he signed a one year deal to remain a Jet. April 24th the Jets traded him to Seattle. I believe that is the professional equivalent of a “cock-tease”. Why sign a contract unless you wanted to stay where you were?
Revis has excellent vision, it is one of the things that makes him good at what he does. I think he sees what has been going on around him, and he sees that management has gone back on it’s (public) word more than once this Spring/Summer. So tell me, if you were on his Island, and you had seen what he has seen, what would you do? Is it possible that these professional insecurities are what Revis is ruminating about in all of his unscheduled free time? I venture to say that you would hold out for some guarantees as well in such an untenable position.