Darrelle Revis signed his fourth and final contract with the New York Jets on Tuesday. This time, there was no nasty holdout. There were only good feelings as the former star cornerback, known for his hard-line positions at the bargaining table, signed a ceremonial one-day contract at his retirement news conference at the Jets' facility.
"I put my heart and soul into wearing the green and white," said Revis, who called it an emotional day even though he shed no tears.
The Jets have held several of these farewells, most recently for Nick Mangold in April, but this was unusual because Revis, unlike other homegrown Jets, achieved his greatest team success elsewhere. In 2014, he won a Super Bowl with the Jets' most hated rival, the New England Patriots -- and Jets fans haven't forgotten. Awkward.
To its credit, the organization did its best to celebrate the best defensive player in franchise history, in my opinion (apologies to Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau). When Revis arrived at One Jets Drive, he was greeted by an actual Revis Island. Near the entrance, the Jets placed three palm trees on a mound of sand. At the news conference, they distributed lapel pins with a "Revis Island" motif.
Revis was "not only one of the best players in the history of this franchise, but one of the best players to ever play the game, period," CEO Christopher Johnson said.
Drafted 14th overall in 2007, Revis played eight of his 11 seasons with the Jets, making five Pro Bowls and three All-Pro teams in their uniform. He was so dominant during his first stint with the team (from 2007 to 2012) that the NFL's top receivers disappeared on his mythical island. In retrospect, he paid a price.
"The assignments I had to face during my career takes a lot of toll on the body, week in and week out," said Revis, explaining why he decided to retire at the hardly ancient age of 33. "Every day, my purpose was to not only be the best player at my position, but be the best player on the field. That was my motivation."
Revis leveraged his stardom into $124 million in career earnings. There were two contract disputes with the Jets, plus a nasty divorce when they traded him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2013. The previous regime, led by general manager John Idzik, made the trade. The current regime, headed by GM Mike Maccagnan, brought him back in 2015, paying an obscene $39 million in guarantees. Suffice it to say that Revis 2.0 wasn't close to the first version.
"I would've loved to play my whole career here and wear the green and white until I actually retired," said Revis, who surfaced with the Kansas City Chiefs last season for their playoff run. "Things happen, team acquisitions coming in and a different direction the team may want to go. It happens, it really does. That's how I sum it up. It happens."
Revis was the best player on the Jets during their last playoff years, 2009 and 2010. The storybook career would've been a start-to-finish run with the Jets, but his desire to set a new financial benchmark, coupled with management's concern about a severe knee injury in 2012, led to the controversial trade. As it turned out, the Patriots were the beneficiaries of his last upper-echelon season, in 2014.
There was no mention of the Patriots during his farewell, except when Revis mentioned Randy Moss as the best receiver he faced. Though he didn't name him, Revis referenced Tom Brady, saying Moss played with "one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game." He said it was like defending a 2-on-1 fast break in basketball.
Revis did it better than anyone.
"As I look back at it now, as I take some time to really assess what I've done and what really happened, it's amazing," he said of his legacy. "It's amazing."