Report: Patriots Will Decline Revis Option
As expected, Darrelle Revis is set to be a free agent when the bidding wars get official Tuesday afternoon. The Patriots will decline a $12.5 million roster bonus on the superstar cornerback, and now shift focus to striking a long term deal.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke the news Monday afternoon.
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The move doesn’t preclude Revis remaining a Patriot, but it does mean he will be an unrestricted free agent if he doesn’t re-sign with New England by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Revis would have counted $25 million against the salary cap in 2015 had the Patriots elected to exercise the roster bonus. New England will eat $5 million in “dead money’’ by declining the option, so it’s a net savings of $20 million.
While the threat of losing Revis – especially to the rival Jets – surely made that option tempting, the $25 million cap hit would have been a hassle to fit under this year’s cap, and would have offered no security in keeping Revis in New England beyond 2015. It would have cost the Patriots $30 million against the cap to franchise Revis in 2016 and keep him off the market, per the league rule that franchised players receive the average of the top 5 cap hits at their position or 120 percent of their cap hit from the previous year, whichever is greater.
One luxury that the Patriots have had in the Revis negotiations is exclusivity. Because Revis was still technically under contract with New England, other teams were not able (at least not legally) to talk with his representatives, a process that reportedly saw the price tag for keeping Devin McCourty increase.
A couple of numbers to keep in mind: The cornerback record for guaranteed money is $47,368,114 between the Cardinals and Patrick Peterson. The most guaranteed money the Patriots have ever signed a player for is $48 million, awarded to Tom Brady in 2010. With the Jets expected to go all out to bring Revis back to New York, and the Chiefs lurking in the background, both of those records could soon be broken.
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