Darrelle Revis’ knee injury much worse than we knew; considered retiring in 2012
So it turns out that Darrelle Revis’ knee injury a few years ago was far worse than we realized.
Revis Island landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week, and in the story Revis reveals that his torn ACL that ended his 2012 season was a lot more complex than your typical ligament tear. Revis, whose New York Jets 1.0 career ended at that moment, required microfracture surgery and seriously pondered his NFL future after that.
This is new information. It was assumed that this was a garden-variety knee injury, as ACLs go these days. Not so, apaprently — and though Revis has a flair for the dramatic (and a knack for squeezing out a lot of money from NFL teams) we have to assume he’s being real here.
[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]
Revis left the Jets after that season, essentially forcing a trade to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who gave him a wildly misleading six-year, $96 million contract. That deal, worth the paper it was written on, devolved essentially to a one-year deal for $16 million for the 2013 season. Revis played fine, but it’s clear he was still coming back from the knee and with Lovie Smith coming on board, the star corner’s man-coverage skills were deemed to be going to waste in Smith’s system.
That’s when Revis was set free by the Buccaneers, who incurred no salary-cap hit (no guaranteed money on Revis’ deal). It allowed Revis to sign a contract for hire with the New England Patriots, winning a Super Bowl in his one season with the team. He earned $12 million in 2014 then hit the market again this offseason. The man is a brilliant negotiator, clearly. And a good healer.
Revis’ Jets 2.0 era begins with some fanfare and also a dose of anti-Patriots hate. Yes, he might have helped them win a Super Bowl, but there apparently is no love lost. Remember when Revis was not allowed his plus-one — his mother! — at the Patriots’ ring ceremony at Robert Kraft’s house in June? Yeah, he talked about that, too.
God bless Revis. He’s an entertainer, and he has his own style. Did he consider retirement? Probably — even if for a few minutes. Has the man made himself a brand and brought a little steam back to a fun but terribly one-sided rivalry between the Patriots and Jets? Absolutely.
Don’t deny this man’s brilliance.
– – – – – – –
Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
