How Much Money Does Revis deserve?

[Kentucky Jet]

How Much Money Does Darrelle Revis Deserve?

by Zach Berger Written on May 19, 2010 Darrelle Revis' agent is currently in negotiations with the Jets, trying to get his client the contract extension that he deserves.

Revis is entering the fourth year of a 6-year contract. The contract was shortened to just 4 years when he met certain requirements, but the Jets have the option of buying out the following two years, so we'll continue to refer to the deal as a 6-year contract. He is due to make just $1 million in 2010. He is in my mind the best cornerback in the league (by far) and the best defensive player in the league. He is an indispensable football player that can shut down the best of the best when it comes to wide receivers. The stat-line of opposing receivers this past season would make you think he was facing college kids before you saw the names behind the stat-lines.

Andre Johnson. Randy Moss. Justin Gage. Marques Colston. Terrell Owens. Louis Murphy. Steve Smith (the good one). Chad OchoCinco. NONE OF THE PLAYERS I JUST MENTIONED SCORED A TOUCHDOWN ON DARRELLE REVIS (except Randy Moss, who scored the second time he faced Revis).

They averaged just over 20 yards against him, Louis Murphy doing the most damage with a 4 reception, 58 yard game. He held Ted Ginn Jr. to zero yards in a game, doing the same to OchoStinko later in the season. He gave up just 3 touchdowns all season long. New York Sports Space did a breakdown of Darrelle Revis' first 12 games of this past season compared with Deion Sanders first 9 games in his Defensive Player of the Year season. Revis had given up 376 yard in 12 games. That's an average of just over 31 yards a game. Sanders? 847 yard in 9 games. 94 yards a game. And touchdowns? Revis gave up 3. Sanders gave up 4. Keep in mind that Revis blew Sanders' best season out of the water even with the comparison using three more games for Darrelle.

So now we have to decide how much money he deserves. He definitely deserves more than Asomugha. He definitely deserves the set records with his contract. The Jets need to lock him up for at least the next five years. If they want to turn this team into a "dynasty": a team that will perennially be a contender, a team that gets mentioned with the Patriots of the 2000-2010 decade, they need Darrelle Revis to be a part of that. So I would immediately recognize that he needs at least a 5-year deal.

In my opinion, a 6-year deal is long enough that the team can renegotiate and extend the contract in around 4 years if he is still playing at the level he is currently at. Next, money comes into play. Asking for more than $20 million is a bit of a stretch. Tom Brady signed a 6-year, $60 million deal in 2005. That's half of what Neil Schwartz is asking the Jets to pay. That's the guy who is consistently in the "best quarterback ever" talk.

That's the guy who had just finished winning his third championship for the team when they negotiated that contract. So why does Revis want twice that when it's obviously a ridiculous demand. I'd consider giving him $18 million a year for 6 years, that's a grand total of $108 million. He'll own the team by the time this is all over.

We have a number. A huge number at that. So how much of that should be guaranteed. After examining similar contracts of defensive backs, I've come to find that a player of Revis' caliber will be guaranteed around 48% of the contract. Al Davis went with the extreme route, guaranteeing Nnamdi Asomugha a whopping 64% of his base salary. Antoine Winfield's current contract only guarantees him 44% of the contract. Asante Samuel only managed to be guaranteed 35%. With a contract as huge as what Revis wants, he isn't going to get much more than $50 million guaranteed. I'd guarantee him $52 million with incentive-based money thereafter, giving him the rest of that $108 million if he meets certain milestones (games played, snaps played, interceptions, passes defensed, etc.). Typically, a player making as much money as Revis wants to make needs to keep up his level of player in order to get the financial return he wants. I'll admit that this is my first experience researching contracts, so I could be way off, but from what I've read about other cornerbacks who were paid fairly high amounts, this doesn't sound too far off.

As for a signing bonus, you guys can figure that out on your own.