Darrelle Revis To Dallas Cowboys Or New England Patriots After New York Jets?

Darrelle Revis to the Dallas Cowboys? Maybe to the New England Patriots? Revis was released by the New York Jets on Tuesday (Feb. 28), setting the stage for a new team to step up in free agency to offer him a new contract. Early Revis rumors have already suggested that he could sign the Cowboys, Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, or even the Seattle Seahawks now that he will have a choice again.

The Darrelle Revis contract was negatively affecting the New York Jets’ salary cap space for the 2017 NFL season, making him a victim of winter roster cuts. As a report by Sportrac shows, Revis signed a five-year, $70 million contract with the Jets in 2015. Had he remained on the Jets’ roster this year, it would have cost the team $2.3 million in bonuses as well as Revis’ $13 million base salary. To part ways with Revis, the Jets cut him, leaving just $6 million left in base salary that will count against the New York Jets’ 2017 cap space.

So what happens next? The bottom line is that by the Jets cutting Darrelle Revis, the team now has around $9.3 million in savings that it can allocate to other players. The Jets can save even more money if a new franchise offers him a contract. If the Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks, or New England Patriots give Revis a contract worth $6 million this season, then the Jets would officially be off the hook. If a team offers him a deal worth $5 million, then the Jets would simply have to cover the difference in his contracts.

This New York Jets news certainly indicates that the team is going to need to address the secondary during the 2017 NFL Draft. A report by the New York Daily News also underscores how the Jets’ front office with be able to avoid the controversy that has come with Revis’ court case. The release of Revis comes two weeks after he was involved in an altercation that took place on a Pittsburgh street. Revis now faces felony charges such as aggravated assault and robbery. It is possible that an NFL suspension could soon follow if his court case doesn’t go well.

There were a number of Darrelle Revis rumors at the end of the 2016 NFL season, including the possibility that the New York Jets could have him play safety this year. The reasoning was that his numbers at the cornerback position had dipped and that Revis wasn’t as good in coverage as he had been in the past. That drop in production, coupled with the Jets’ 2017 salary cap issues, convinced the team that it was time to cut the expensive defensive back. Now the Jets could save as much as $15.3 million in team salary.

In 15 games during the 2016 NFL season, Darrelle Revis’ stats dipped quite a bit for the Jets. Playing in 15 games for the Jets, Revis had only five pass deflections and one interception to show for it. NFL analysts were routinely talking about how Revis was “getting burned” by the best receivers in the league, showing a defined weakness in the Jets’ secondary. Now the 10-year veteran is going to have to find a new team during the NFL offseason that is not only willing to sign him but overlook the legal problems coming down the road.

As for those “Darrelle Revis to New England Patriots” rumors, it is a team that is not only very familiar with him but which found success in the Super Bowl with him serving as a veteran presence. The Patriots did just win another Super Bowl without him, but Revis may be about to become a bargain in NFL free agency again. Patriots general manager and head coach Bill Belichick is not shy about offering veterans contracts during their final NFL seasons, so it makes a lot of sense for the team to get linked to its former cornerback.

There are a lot of NFL teams that need help in the secondary, even if it is simply to add depth to the roster. If Darrelle Revis’ salary demands aren’t too high, a team like the Seattle Seahawks could swoop in and add him to the Legion Of Boom. It’s possible that he could serve as a good piece when the Seahawks are using more than two cornerbacks on a defensive play. This is another city where Revis would have to take a large pay cut, though, as the Seahawks don’t have a lot of money to offer players in free agency this year.

Could the Dallas Cowboys sign Darrelle Revis? That’s also possible, as owner Jerry Jones also likes to bring “names” down to Dallas. There aren’t many cornerbacks in the league that come with the fanfare that Revis would bring with him. If the Cowboys want to make a splash that will gain front page news for a while, possibly taking some of the attention away from the Tony Romo rumors, they could quickly extend a contract offer to Revis.

A high number of Darrelle Revis contract rumors are going to come out over the next few days, and NFL fans should expect that the future Hall of Fame cornerback gets linked to any team with problems in the secondary.

[Featured Image by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images]