The Jets have made their bed, now they’re trying to sleep in it

At the end of last year, Rex Ryan couldn’t say enough positive things about Darrelle Revis. Ryan went as far as saying that he’s the best defensive player in the league. Whether you believe it or not doesn’t really matter. What does is that Ryan made those claims about Revis, and now Revis is holding him to it.

Revis has decided to sit out training camp and try and get himself a new contract. If he is, in fact, the best defensive player in the league then he does deserve to get paid. And the important thing to remember here is that the coach of the team he plays for made these claims, so from the viewpoint of Revis the Jets should put their money where their mouth is.

I’m sure behind closed doors the Jets brass cringed every time Ryan opened his mouth and poured out as many superlatives as he knows when he was referring to Revis. If Ryan was aware of the impact of what he was saying he probably wouldn’t have said it, but he didn’t. He proceeded to give Revis all the leverage he needed to hold the Jets ransom. Really, can you blame Revis? If your employer told everyone who was willing to listen that you were the best employee would you not want to be paid like the best employee?

Things have slowly changed in the past few weeks in New York though. No longer is Ryan singing the praises of the best corner in the game. Now he’s starting to get frustrated. His demeanor has changed in his press conferences, and it’s clear he’s starting to realize the mistake he made. He’s gone as far as saying he wants to get the whole team and Revis to sit down and get a deal hammered out. Then he finally came to the realization that maybe the contract talks should just be between the team and Revis. What a novel idea.

The problem is that the damage has been done. The Jets are going to be forced to pay Revis what he wants, how could they not? What this really brings to light is how delicate of a business football really is. Coaches not only have to be able to manage a team, they also have to manage the media. They have to understand that what they say can be used against them. Having pompous loudmouths as coaches may be entertaining, but from a business standpoint it drives the owners and general managers nuts.

This move by Ryan may not only cost the Jets a huge contract right now, but it amy also put them in a hard position in the future to manage their roster and salary cap. They have players like Nick Mangold and David Harris, who they have to worry about resigning by next year. Then there’s Mark Sanchez, who is potentially the next big contract they’ll have to worry about. When you start adding this up the Jets have a small window of opportunity to take advantage of. Not only do they have to make the right moves now, they have to make sure the moves they do make now allow them to make the right moves years from now. This may wind up being a very hard lesson for the Jets and Rex Ryan to learn from.

Technorati Tags: Darrelle Revis, New York Jets, NFL, Rex Ryan

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