Revis Question Looms Large
January 1st, 2014
Lovie Smith might want the shopping money ditching Revis would provide
So how would lockdown cornerback Darrelle Revis fit into new Bucs head coach Lovie Smith’s notorious Tampa-2 defense?
It’s hard to imagine paying $16 million for a cornerback in a zone-based system. The Bucs could part ways at any time with Revis without a salary cap penalty, a move that would provide massive flexibility to a new regime.
This is a very intriguing situation.
According to reports at the time of the Revis trade, the Bucs only must give up their 2014 third-round pick to the Jets if Revis is on the Bucs roster on the third-day of the league year in March, otherwise it’s a fourth-round pick. So, if the Bucs trade or cut Revis, they would recoup the third-rounder and have a massive pile of cash to go shopping — in addition to the massive pile of cash they already have available.
For example (keyword, “example”), the Bucs could probably sign 2014 Pro Bowl cornerbacks Brent Grimes and Aqib Talib for less than what Revis would cost, and they’d get the extra draft picks.
The Revis trade in April was a win-now move for the blitz-happy New Schiano Order defense, but it may not be viewed as such by Smith and his eventual general manager.
Of course, Smith would always get creative and find ways for Revis to be more effective than he ever was with the Jets. But who knows?
Joe likes Revis and was impressed by what he offered, outside of a couple of apparent loafs in the season finale in New Orleans. Smith, however, might have other ideas one what it will take to bring the Bucs a ferocious defense — and Smith will get what he wants this offseason.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:40 pm
It’s a tough disicion indeed. If I had to guess I’d say he Won’t be back.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:40 pm
I think Lovie and Revis are smart enough to make adjustments to each other. I am not worried about a single player on defense. There were times that the Bears played a single high man. They did it plenty of times. Lovie runs a Tampa 2 hybrid if anything. I actually think Revis will fit perfectly for this. Also the Glazers and Lovie would have to be fools to not consider Revis in this discussion.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:40 pm
Cover 2 uses the CB in press coverage Joe… LMAO.
Holy crap you know nothing man.
Your insults are not only foolish but ridiculous. Work on your reading skills. Have a nice night. –Joe
January 1st, 2014 at 10:41 pm
I wasnt on board with the Revis trade to begin with but I’ve warmed up to the guy and I hope we keep him. I dont think we in need of the cap space but the draft pick is a different story. We shall see.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:41 pm
Joe they can sign Grimes AND KEEP REVIS. The bucs have plenty of cap room to make that move. Especially if they cut someone those lame linemen. Revis isn’t going anywhere, BANK ON IT.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:43 pm
final years in chicago it was more a cover 1 and cover 3….
January 1st, 2014 at 10:43 pm
Sounds like there may be an opening for a restructuring of Revis’ contract….knocking off a couple of million for some securtiy for Revis….
The only person committed to keeping Revis is gone (Dominick) unwilling to admit a mistake (I don’t think Revis was a mistake)…
I hope Revis is kept and the defense continues to build around him.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:44 pm
Even in our Tampa 2 days we mixed in man coverage. This isn’t a concern unless we get tight on cap space. What we need is an end that hurts quarterbacks!
January 1st, 2014 at 10:46 pm
The Glazers wanted revis, why would a defensive minded coach come in and cut revis the best corner he has as his first order of business. His contract would have only been an issue if Freeman got a big payday, glennon doesn’t make enough to put cheese on a whopper. Revis deserves to see if he is worth that money when fully healthy. Stop talking about getting rid of good players and talk about replacing adam Hayward and Leonard Johnson. The name of lovie Smith alone will be a wake up call to the locker room
January 1st, 2014 at 10:46 pm
If I were a coach, I sure as hell would want Revis on the field playing for me.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:50 pm
I was just watching the NFL Total Access clip and they said Revis Island will resurrect with Lovie. That he has not run a traditional cover 2 in a long time.
As a matter a fact thats the one thing all of them were saying they were excited for.
Tillman excelled at man in his scheme.
If you think Lovie hasn’t evolved and only plays a conventional cover 2 you are mistaken.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:50 pm
Yeah, I’m sure an experienced, defensive minded NFL coach walks into the building and the first thing that comes to mind is cutting one of the best corners to ever play the game.
I believe these guys will adjust and will want to keep weapons. We have elite or potentially elite personnel at every position except DE. Lovie will have to work with that.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:51 pm
Why would we get rid of Revis? He made the Pro Bowl on one leg. Teams basically stopped throwing at him as the year went on, and he will be healthy next year. Also, Banks is back and Lovie knows defensive talent so my guess is he will bring in some CB’s for depth. If the Bucs dump him it’ll be because of money. They don’t get rid of guys at Man U because of money.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:51 pm
Joe’s on the money. Why spend all that when you can add more talent that fits better. It will start up front where it belong for Lovie Smith. We’ll have pass rushers in here. … The guy sent little known corner Jennings to the Pro Bowl in 2012. … We can get three excellent corners for the price of Revis, and get the draft pick back.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:52 pm
With Lovie Smith as the new Bucs coach, I’m thinking this team is going to look a lot different than what we saw last year. Lovie is going to run a 4-3 defense with a hybrid secondary – mostly Tampa 2 and some man. If I’m correct the Revis contract is in play and possibly Dashon Goldson.
The Bucs gave up a first-rounder in 2013, which was the 13th pick overall, a fourth-round pick in 2014, which becomes a third-round pick if Revis is on Tampa Bay’s roster on the third day of the new league year in 2014. The NFL 2014 new league year begins on March 11, 2014 at 4pm.
So the best the Bucs could do is save a 3rd round pick by releasing Revis any time before March 13th. They would still lose a 4th round pick even if Revis is released.
I doubt they would do that unless they were absolutely sure that he is not worth his current contract and he refuses to renegotiate. If their decision is to go another way, the best alternative is to work out a trade with the Jets for the 2014 draft pick and let them renegotiate a contract with Revis. With what Revis put on tape in 2013, I doubt that any other team would be interested in trading for him at 16mil a year!
Donte Whitner is a free agent for the 49ers this year. If he is a possible loss for them, some interesting conversation could be had for acquiring Dashon Goldson back. With T.J. Ward and Jarius Byrd becoming free agents the Bucs have alternatives at FS.
With Brent Grimes, Aqib Talib, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Alterraun Verner, Vontae Davis, Sam Shields, And the elder statesmen Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman all free agents this year, the Bucs have alternatives at CB.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:52 pm
Revis isn’t going anywhere, nor should he be. The secondary after him is still very questionable, so getting rid of your best player at the position by far 1 year after giving up a 1st and 3rd rounder would be a pretty horrible decision.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:53 pm
You almost never see the straight up Tampa-2 anymore. With the way the league has progressed offensively and with the rule changes, it just doesn’t work as well as it used to.
Lovie and Frazier would be smart enough to figure out how to use Revis. And they can easily restructure a contract at any time. Revis will likely take less per year if you guarantee money over the long term.
Let’s stop this talk about cutting people before we even know what the schemes are going to be. Already everyone wants to cut Revis, Foster, Penn, Joseph, Glennon, and bunch of others. I mean you cannot replace the whole team in one year!
January 1st, 2014 at 10:53 pm
A recent statement from Lovie said Chicago was just a learning experience and that he’s a greater coach than he was than.
I expect that he has evolved and adapted some things as he’s learned with time.
I’m sure he’s been preparing for his comeback and has zoned in on his weaknesses.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:53 pm
Revis was our 2013 #1 draft pick he’ll be even better next year as the knee tears almost always take a full year to get 100% right. You don’t cut your #1 draft pick for a 3rd rounder & sign free agents that’s a recipe for a losing organization.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:55 pm
Or he could come back. The problem I see is if the new GM whoever he might be wants to free up some cap space. He could always restructure his contract but I don’t think he would be open to doing that.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:57 pm
Lovie sort of gets put in that “Cover 2” box, and it’s true that he incorporates a lot of the concepts into his base defense. However, in his later years in Chicago that defensive scheme was far more aggressive in using press-man coverage, so it’s not as if Lovie is inflexible or Revis has no place in his defensive scheme. My guess is #24 gets another year to get to 100% healthy before they try to move him for premium picks. More likely cap-casualties IMO might be Joseph, Nicks, and (dark horse guess) Penn.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:57 pm
That’s another thing to be excited for.
His former players will want to play for him.
Hester said he would want to
January 1st, 2014 at 11:01 pm
Revis is a great player, but I’d rather have three great players instead of one.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:03 pm
I’m sure Revis was one of the options that attracted Lovie
Don’t get your hopes up
January 1st, 2014 at 11:03 pm
You do not get rid of one the best defensive players in football!
January 1st, 2014 at 11:08 pm
Good Ds are built in the trenches, not in the secondary. Revis is still an excellent player, but that 3rd round pick and $16 mil would be awfully nice to have.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:10 pm
Well… in a cover 2, the CB 1 and CB 2 play press coverage.
So based on that, Revis is a perfect fit.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:12 pm
Well, in a cover 2, the top 2 CBs play in press coverage. So Revis is actually a perfect fit.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:14 pm
It would be a massive, collasal mistake to even consider not bringing Revis back. DON’T DO IT!!!!!!
January 1st, 2014 at 11:16 pm
I don’t buy it
January 1st, 2014 at 11:21 pm
Here you go again trying to make the news instead of reporting it (JSPN), how about you post if the Bucs end the Leonard Johnson experiment and sign a true corner to compete with Banks this defense will be a lot batter not this crap about getting rid of a top 3 player off the roster like Revis!
January 1st, 2014 at 11:22 pm
Lovie Smith over his last few years ran a ton of Cover 3 & Cover 1 man.
He’ll handle Revis, no problem.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:24 pm
That $16 million isn’t really that important. Once either Nicks or Joseph are gone along with a few others, the Bucs will have over $20 million in cap space. Dominik may have done a lot wrong, but he did managed the cap very well. The Bucs are in solid shape there going forward. Revis is still at worst a top 5 CB in the league. The Bucs don’t have another guy in the top 40 after that. Saving cap space to get much worse at a key position isn’t worth it.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:49 pm
I wonder in amazement if anyone other then a few people on this board watches the NFL outside of the Bucs? Charles Tillman has been known for a number of years as a “shut down corner” for the Bears yes under Lovie. They put him in man against Megatron for God’s sakes and he more then held his own. Good coaches adjust to the great talent they have regardless of schemes anyway. Revis will be healthier next year and hopefully be that much better as well. He rarely was used correctly this year and still played well.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:53 pm
Clarification:
We lose either a third OR a fourth round pick depending on if Revis is a Buc in March. Before we start talking about cutting Revis, let’s evaluate what we would be losing.
Is Revis worth a third round pick? YES!!!
Could we restructure his deal either this year or next? Possible.
We should explore the restructuring after we see what he can do next year.
January 1st, 2014 at 11:59 pm
Peanut Tillman is a free agent. Sign him to pair with Revis. He may want to play for Lovie again.
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:09 am
yeah revis will be traded or release comeon stop with that nonsense we all know that revis is still one of the best its just that were trying to fix something that isn’t broken or just trying to get some drama out of nothing we have a new head coach great we all know that so why don’t we just focus on to more wins and win a Super Bowl not with that some drama crap
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:10 am
Guys press coverage is only man coverage for about the first 7-8 yards then it’s becomes zone. Revis really played his best ball pressed man so this could work
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:12 am
Without question keep Revis, also sends a terrible message to FAs about ownership if they dump him after just one year, a year he recovered from
an injury. Revis will dominate under Lovie, smart coaches will utilize their best talent. Look what Lovie did with his CBs in CHI and no disrespect none of them have the talent of Revis.
What terrible message? First off, the Bucs overpaid for Revis and he wasn’t an FA. Free agents care about money and opportunity. Bucs gave Revis both. A massive contract coming off an injury in a defense that allegedly suited his talents. Charles Tillman made less than half of Revis’ cash and was a defensive player of the year candidate last season under Lovie.–Joe
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:27 am
I got my last post off of a Bucs twitter feed by the way!
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:42 am
Joe, what have you been smoking man, LOL?
No coach worth the title willingly gives up an athlete of Darrelle Revis’ caliber especially when that athlete is the top shut down cornerback in a pass happy league. A coach worth the title figures out how to incorporate Revis’ unique and impressive skill set into whatever defense he’s going to run. If, as you say, cap space is needed, that’s another issue.
Most importantly in my opinion, if Revis goes the secondary returns to one made up largely of first,, second and third year players. Those players would then have to labor without a leader in the secondary setting an example of “how it’s done” for the rest. In addition to his skill set, Revis brings his maturity and leadership that will ensure the Bucs’ young defensive back are “raised up right.”
January 2nd, 2014 at 12:50 am
Yeahhh everybody on twitter that knows anything about Lovie said his last 2 to 3 years he had mostly a Cover 1 man defense with some cover 3 sprinkled in. This getting rid of Revis stuff is crazy.
January 2nd, 2014 at 1:44 am
Dumping revis would be like a new coach coming to New England or Denver and jettisoning Brady or manning because he scheme he usually runs involves more rollouts. When you inherit a team leader with all world talent you embrace him
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:08 am
Why does JBF always talk about cutting revis? I mean really? The bucs have a ton of cap space! Cornerbacks arent going to get cheaper. There is already the precident of a cb making 16m. Grimes and tillman will be looking to get close to that. I hope not since i would love to see tillman in tampa opposite revis. I dont know if i can watch anothef season of banks and johnson getting torched all season.
Imo the biggest concern as for personel is goldson. He has a problem with jumping short routes while leaving guys wide open in the endzone.
January 2nd, 2014 at 2:18 am
Yeah, a defensive-minded coach is going to cut the best CB in football because a few FANS and a blog site doesnt like the salary.
Give me a break.
This is a clown thread, bro.
January 2nd, 2014 at 4:53 am
This is a ridiculous thought to even consider. That old style of “Tampa 2” has been extinct for so long. Kiffin wasn’t even running it his last couple years in Tampa.
January 2nd, 2014 at 9:00 am
Nobody runs Tampa 2 majority of the time Joe. Not anymore, it’s just a play now on long yardage, not really a scheme anymore.