Some comments on the comments
1. Here is how I see this lining up. Hayden, Peterson, Sherman and Revis make up the top 4 of NFL CB's.
2. The 3 of them all got paid last year, pretty much setting the current top of the market for CB's, which is, I believe, in the $14MM/yr range
3. Revis is on record saying he doesn't have to be the highest paid CB in the league
4. Revis is also 3 or 4 years older than the 3 guys I mentioned. This is something Revis is smart enough to know will be a factor in this next contract.
5. Any expectation of Revis maintaining the same high level of play we saw this year longer than 2 more seasons should be considered optimistic. So its imperative that the Pats and Revis' camp be on the same page about Revis' end game to his career. For example is he willing to risk a bigger percentage of his income after 2016 on playing time and performance incentives? How willing is he to perhaps transition to S at the end of his career?
Being on the same page on questions like that will go along way to getting Revis the kind of money he wants in those next 2-3 years.
6. Playing in Boston gives him some advantages that should outweigh marginally better offers.
a. Virtually assured of playoff money (BTW- anyone know how much extra money every player made by winning the superbowl? )
b. Will play with a very good secondary and defense the next 3 or 4 years
c. Will play with an improving top 5 offense the next 2-3 years
d. He'll be knows he'll be well coached
7. The negatives are:
a. He'll have to work his ass off and play within a system
b. He won't get the last dollar.
8. If I'm the Pats I expect Revis and his camp to recognize the issue of his age and agree to those clauses that will address the Pats concerns. I also expect him to recognize that a lot of players here take a bit less so the money so it can be spread to the rest of his teammates. And also that the best player on the team takes less a lot less than top dollar.
9. If I am Revis I expect the Pats to pay me within 5% of the highest player in the game on a per year basis and my Guarantee percentages are fairly equal as well. In exchange I will make concessions to my age by making more of my income play time and performance related in the last 2 or 3 years of the contract. And I will give the Pats a small discount in AVV in exchange for a small increase in upfront bonus.
10 So in the end the deal would look something like this: The Headline would be 5 years for 70M with a 15MM signing bonus, and an additional 20MM in other guarantees throughout the contract. Whatever he is due beyond the bonus in those first 2 years would become guaranteed on the 3rd day of the new league year. After 2016 more and more of the contract would become more playtime and performance based. So if he is still playing at a high level, he'll get paid at the highest levels
11. This I think gives both sides what they want. I'm comfortable that the Pats are willing to pay him top dollar, as long as he's playing like the elite player he is right now. When the day comes when he becomes
"merely" a good player (ie top 20 CB) The Pats want his pay to reflect that new reality.
12. What the Pats want is not another Logan Mankins situation, where they have to let go a "good" player because he's making a great players' pay check (cap number). Something like this, I think, would do the trick.
