Bucs Have “Issues” If Darrelle Revis Traded
February 28th, 2014
The news of the week dropped by CBS Sports NFL insider Jason La Canfora is still buzzing around the Tampa Bay area. Should, or will, the Bucs trade all-world cornerback Darrelle Revis?
The issue has Bucs fans split. But one Bucs beat writer who is not torn on the subject is Woody Cummings of The Tampa Tribune. In an interview granted to Bleacher Report, Cummings had pointed comments about the notion of a Revis Trade.
In fact, if Bucs coach Lovie Smith does ship Revis out, there are larger concerns, Cummings suggested.
“You know, I have a hard time believing a team would inherit the best cornerback in the league and then move him,” Cummings told the Bleacher Report. “Here’s another thing: Who has the cap space to get Darrelle Revis? Who can take on $16 million? … I can see why a team would want Darrelle Revis but I can’t see why the Buccaneers would want to get rid of him.
“I have a real problem with Lovie Smith, who I have a lot of respect for being a defensive-minded coach, if he can’t find a way to work Darrelle Revis into his defense. If he cannot do that, we’ve got some real issues here in Tampa.”
Lovie, per Cummings, said the Bucs “are going to win or lose games depending on how we play man.” Cummings added it is clear from those words Revis is not going anywhere soon.
Look, Joe doesn’t see Revis being moved short of some team (with massive cap space) selling Bucs general manager Jason Licht an offer he can’t refuse, like a Mike Ditka-like trading away of an entire draft class.
For whatever reason, the fans who want Revis traded seem to have short memories. The Bucs secondary in 2012 was a ghastly sight, so bad that four lawn chairs couldn’t have defended the pass any worse — at least a wide receiver had a chance of tripping over a lawn chair.
By getting rid of Revis, the Bucs would create a massive hole where the team didn’t have one. Both Licht and Lovie are quick to point out the Bucs were a 4-12 team last year. You don’t turn that around by getting rid of one of the best defenders in the league.
February 28th, 2014 at 8:06 am
We need more good players, not less and Revis is a very good player.
February 28th, 2014 at 8:11 am
I said it before, that there is no team that will give up picks and pay a Revis 16 million, Only a fool would do that.
February 28th, 2014 at 8:13 am
Maybe Myron has finally developed into a shutdown corner….bring him back, then no need for Revis!!!
February 28th, 2014 at 8:17 am
either way they should re-strucure. He is the best but he is being WAY over payed. Re-structure then your in good shape. Give him some guaranteed money and get it done
February 28th, 2014 at 8:30 am
Another BS report from LaCanfora. And people fall for it.
February 28th, 2014 at 8:31 am
As crappy as our secondary has been prior to last year,, we better not get rid of one of our very important key figures on defense.. There’s only one darrelle revis anyway and our franchise has never had that type of extraordinary elite talent at that cb position besides ronde but he’s no revis either.. Lol
WE BETTER NOT TRADE Revis!!!!!!
February 28th, 2014 at 8:38 am
About Revis and his contract, none of it is guaranteed, he has a base salary of 13 mil with 3 mil in misc bonuses, again, none of this is guaranteed money, this being the NFL the Bucs if they so decide could cut him before March 11 and owe him nothing, if they keep him it’s a cap hit of 16 mil that season, as of now, those are the only two options the Bucs have in respect to his contract, if they should decide to trade him, the receiving team would most likely ask for 72 hours to try and cut a better deal then the one the Bucs have with him and would most likely have to come up with some variation on his current deal, he ain’t taking any less, would you?
Again, there is 50 some-odd days until the draft, a little more than a week from FA, this is a filler story, I know LaCanfora, he doesn’t just make s*it up, if he did he wouldn’t be in the biz for as long as he has been, he heard something, speculation, most likely from one of “his” guys, a “this is what I would do ” scenario. You don’t trade away the best at any position, not in a league where most games are won by less than 3 points, and especially a player who plays prime position like CB.
February 28th, 2014 at 8:40 am
When I hear the rumors I come up with 2 concerns on this subject.
1. Revis does not want to be in Tampa
2. The Bucs keep Revis, but by the time the Bucs are a good team, Revis is past his prime.
February 28th, 2014 at 9:11 am
The Bucs will be a good team this year. Look for at least half the team to be new guys. They will be well coached. They will have faith in their coach and respect their coach. Why? because Lovey treats his players like men and with respect, unlike other regimes I could mention.
If they trade Revis they will be sure to load up on draft picks for this year. This draft supposedly is the best in a decade for depth and we have, what, 5 picks? If they can get a lot of them I’m ok with it, but i would prefer to keep him.
As far as the Cummings article goes, anyone in the universe could say to Revis ‘go cover the best receiver’. To think Lovey would not be able to do that is ludicrous.
How about this, Woody… 16 million. Even grade schoolers know that is a lot of money. If they can convert it to bonuses or something to bring he cap hit down then it would be great- if not all that money could be used to bring in 3-4 guys with talent.
It’s not rocket science. It’s not brain surgery. It’s Math and football.
February 28th, 2014 at 9:17 am
we are here talking about revis getting traded with all the other needs and issues we need this year. we need revis period i dont want to see leonard johnson being my starter next year with a 33 year old peaunut tillman possibly. revis at 80 percent last year played some good football he is an asset with david and mccoy honestly those 3 should be untouchable players for the bucs in my opinion
February 28th, 2014 at 9:28 am
@ thomas
yes you have a point however. is this free agency class that good that we could replace revis?? what corners are out their peaunut tillman at 33 years old, im here in miami and word is that brent grimes will be franchise.also the draft is good this year however our we rebuilding for the future or are we a team that wants to go to the playoffs next year. so we need to keep in persperctive that revis is a huge asset to this team i dont know if you remember but without revis we were almost possibly one of the wost secondarys in nfl history 2012 ill leave with you that.
February 28th, 2014 at 9:37 am
@Kevin. Restructuring makes zero sense. You clearly have no idea what a restructure is if you think we should do it with Revis.
It means taking a large portion of his base salary this year and converting it into signing bonus and thus shifting that massive amount of money into future cap years. This is the type of crap that creates dead money down the line if/when he is released. The part where we have more than enough cap space to absorb it this year because we aren’t paying a QB like New Orleans or Denver makes this idea even worse.
February 28th, 2014 at 9:39 am
bucs need to trade with the browns for the forth pick and the 26th pick .
February 28th, 2014 at 9:45 am
No team is going to trade a first round pick for Darell Revis anymore. He played well last year but not that well. He will be 29 soon. I thought the trade was a brilliant move, but I thought it was a brilliant move for the Jets.
February 28th, 2014 at 9:55 am
This 16 million dollar question is going to be answered by the 13th of March (3 days following the start of the new league year). I can wait!
February 28th, 2014 at 10:03 am
Revis had us over a barrel last season as he was deemed to be and then crowned the missing link.
Licht will listen to any offer because that’s the nature of the business but I still can’t see anyone else paying a CB $16M
February 28th, 2014 at 10:19 am
It’s not a bs report. The bucs aren’t shopping him. They have received interest but nothing in the negotiating stages.
Look , Solomon Wilcox on nfl network spelled it out. They need to re-work the deal bc he’s no cb is worth it. Coming off the acl surgery, he didn’t play at an all pro cb level. Yet he’s the highest paid defensive player? Come on. If he were on the open market, yeah teams would bid for his services but he’d get between 7-11 million per at the most. No cb is worth the value of a qb. I watched Revis get burned by the likes of Ginn, Henderson , stills and meachum. That’s pathetic when you’re getting paid.
February 28th, 2014 at 10:21 am
Mark dominik was the only moron that wanted to make the trade. The jets out right hands down own that deal. Sheldon Richardson , 16 mm in cap space they didn’t have to pay, and now a 3rd rounder. Jets are a qb and wr away from getting back to the playoffs.
February 28th, 2014 at 10:29 am
Imagine a D-line featuring Sheldon Richardson, McCoy, a top flight FA DE, plus a third round pick in the draft, and 16m to sign a few DBs like Grimes.
February 28th, 2014 at 10:32 am
@Chris
Sorry, didn’t see your post. Great minds think alike.
February 28th, 2014 at 10:32 am
Broncos are in decent cap position, and could free up more with Bailey
Maybe Revis would agree to rework his K for a chance at a ring?
They need to move him, hes damaged goods and not likely to last long. I know he said his knee is recovered but what else could he say.
Corner/bad knee/16 million. Not a good combo.
February 28th, 2014 at 11:09 am
The owners need another 16 mill to complete Wayne Rooney’s new deal.
February 28th, 2014 at 11:30 am
Banks to me looks like a Tillman Jr. Ball hawk who really surprised his rookie year.
February 28th, 2014 at 11:55 am
I agree with Joe that we keep Revis unless a deal too good to be true is offered. People act like we can’t afford him and or he is not worth the cap space. I would understand that opinion if he was not one of the best CB’s in the NFL. We will upgrade several critical positions with value picks that fit Lovie’s system. Also I like proven players over unproven Draft picks. Just my opinion.
February 28th, 2014 at 12:13 pm
“Who has the cap space to get Darrelle Revis? Who can take on $16 million? … I can see why a team would want Darrelle Revis but I can’t see why the Buccaneers would want to get rid of him.” stated Cummings…
Yet he fails to realize he answered his own question… who has cap space to take on $16 million? Not us. Why would we want to get rid of him? How about cap space, moron! Obviously, he’s still a good player…though I doubt a CB is ever going to be worth $1 mill a game…speaking of which…Cummings stated..”4-12 team, you don’t get rid of a great player…blah blah blah…”
Damn, really? We lost 12 games WITH Revis last season, I’m pretty sure we can match last season’s win total without him. $1.5 mil a game on two DBs…bad cap management to the maximum and the guy wonders why we would want to create cap space to…I don’t know, get the really important players on D (pass rushers).
Obviously, Cummings is no mathematician if he can’t figure out why the Bucs might be interested in trading Revis and his franchise QB salary.
February 28th, 2014 at 12:16 pm
And let’s be honest with ourselves here… even if Revis was Deion Sanders in his prime…and the Bucs still lost 12 games… could you argue that he is worth it? How many QBs making that much money only won 4 games last season? EXACTLY—that kind of money SHOULD NOT be spent on CBs, period!
February 28th, 2014 at 12:18 pm
Thank God fans don’t drive cuts or trades, all these haters mad about the amount of money revis is getting…no wonder we’ve sucked so long. Get rid of the best corner in football because of money! Lol it’s Hilarious that after all the excuses for not buying tickets because glazers wouldn’t spend money, even dumb talk of getting tebow to town. Spend to the cap because we can pay him until a franchise qb comes along. Besides there are 5-6 guys that can be replaced that are making to much money, you don’t start out by cutting the top player on your team
February 28th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
There is not a gm in the world that would give up a 1st and 3rd to pay #24 16 million a year. Maybe if the Dom gets another job next year, we could trade him them
February 28th, 2014 at 12:28 pm
with the cap going up 10 million, you wont see many good free agents to even pick up… guys like Hardy will be resigned so you might as well spend on #24.
February 28th, 2014 at 12:42 pm
@buc4life I could not have said it better.
February 28th, 2014 at 12:53 pm
We currently have McCoy, L. David and Revis. Which equates to having a great player at each level of our defense. We will upgrade several positions to compliment them because defense will be the focus and we can have a great defense again. Some people are stuck on last year’s record and blaming that on Revis??? He made the pro bowl and played well but I guess some people did not watch or were too baked to notice.
February 28th, 2014 at 12:57 pm
Yeah well, I remember fans who said Free_man was actually a good player, and that I was wrong for saying he was absolutely atrocious.
So, yes, I agree, I’m glad that fans don’t drive this franchise.
That’s still the biggest joke of them all, Freeman is a franchise QB. I laugh every time.
February 28th, 2014 at 1:21 pm
“all these haters mad about the amount of money revis is getting”
buc4lyfe..I don’t know where you people keep getting this “mad about the money Revis making” stuff. Where is it being said by any fans that they are jealous or mad about the money he makes?
February 28th, 2014 at 1:25 pm
Buc4lyfe- you hit the nail on the head! First of all it’s not your money. Second, why would you go backwards on defense. There is no FA/ draft pick that has the talent Revis has, PERIOD/ END OF STORY!
Stop with the “what ifs” and get behind your starting all-pro CB because you’re an idiot if you think that they’re going to move him!!!
February 28th, 2014 at 1:32 pm
I think that with the salary cap increase, that many teams will be able to keep the free agents that they want. I think that talent evaluation and getting a lot of bang for the bucks Will be more critical than normal this time around. This should be an entertaining free agency period.
February 28th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
This is just becoming more and more ridiculous with each passing day…The Jets are a QB and WR away from the playoffs? Stop it. Almost every team without a franchise QB is basically a QB away from the playoffs.
Darrelle Revis should only be traded if the offer is crazy good; two first round picks, nothing less. He is not killing the Bucs cap, the team is not strapped for cash. Enough already with the wacky scenarios about having Richardson and a corner like Grimes, who is almost two years older than Revis and also came back from an ugly injury and further more would cost at least half of what Revis is being paid.
Revis is the best cover corner in the NFL, period. A player like Richard Sherman may be younger and just as good, heck, he was better last season than Revis, but he’s playing out a rookie contract. If you don’t think Sherman will get at least 12 million per season, you must be nuts. Having Revis with a unique deal that includes zero guaranteed money for a team that is not hurting for cap space, helps the Bucs by inflating the high end value of the CB position, meaning that when it’s time for guys like Sherman and Patrick Peterson to be paid, they’ll surely point to the Revis deal in their negotiations, regardless of how realistic it will be for that player to ink a similar deal, especially since they’ll likely want guaranteed money.
At the end of the day, it’s a wacky contract. It’s basically a franchise tag every season, and right now that is fine. I do expect the contract to be reworked if Revis remains healthy and productive after next season, but for now, the man is a key cog to a defense that is missing an edge rusher to become elite. McCoy, David and Revis. Add in the safeties who should be improved as they’ll receive better coaching and the Bucs are one pass rusher away from being a playoff team. Let’s not blow this thing up so soon, please.
February 28th, 2014 at 1:39 pm
Revis > *
February 28th, 2014 at 1:44 pm
You know, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bus started this rumor; it might be a good setup to a conversation something like: “Look Darrelle, we are really excited about the possibilities you bring as a player, and we are excited to have you on the team. Unfortunately, we are having a hard time figuring out how to fit your salary into our spending plans. That’s why we’re entertaining trade offers. It has nothing to do with you as a player, but we just can’t figure out how to work around your contract. Of course, if you can think of another way…”
February 28th, 2014 at 2:38 pm
You’re not going to find a Darrelle Revis with an entire draft worth of picks and multiple first rounders.
March 1st, 2014 at 12:50 am
Yes by all means lets get rid of one of the best cornerbacks to ever play the game so we can pick up 3 to 4 talented players who can jump far at the combine or touch their toes 50 times in a row. Lets dump Revis 16 mil salary so that we can all have $5 tickets to the game because that $16 mil is costing all of us a bunch off money. We could get 32 Leonard Johnsons for that kind of money. What are we waiting for cut him! Lovie should be fired for this mismanagement of the team.
March 1st, 2014 at 2:30 am
Using the flawed logic of those who want to sell Revis, hey, let’s just offer a package of Revis, McCoy, and all our All Pros and amass a bunch of picks for this so called deep draft. The Bucs didn’t win a Super Bowl that way, now did they! They used free agency, the draft, and a first rate Head Coach and added pieces to their core of Super Stars–that is the same formula the Bucs are trying to duplicate here now. Revis will stay right here and help us build a new Super Bowl Team. Lovie is way too smart to do otherwise and he was right here when he saw that formula succeed big time. Apparently there are still some here inflicted by Schiano logic–lets just get rid of two thousand yard RBs and his best corner; so how did that work for the worst Coach in Buc history? Many of the same people apparently believe Schiano’s lie that Glennon will turn around the season for the Bucs and we will not need a new QB in 2014! Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
March 1st, 2014 at 11:23 am
Brandon Says:
“We lost 12 games WITH Revis last season”
One player does not a defense make. 😉
March 2nd, 2014 at 12:23 am
…issues…not as much as Roy, or anyone else might think…especially if Lovie gets his 4-3 rush end…
Then you can settle for something less, definitely could wait till a little later in this same draft…