Let’s get one thing out of the way real quick: nobody in the National Football League is going to play for free. That is actually in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. That said, even if it were possible that a player could play for free, it seems there would be few biting at the opportunity to sign Darrelle Revis on the free agent market.
Revis is being sent packing to his own island on the free agent map this afternoon as teams move forward in the free agent period of the offseason, and the suggestion floating out there appears to be there may be little interest in adding Revis to a roster as he continues to show a possible decline on the field with his production. One reaction from an anonymous NFL general manager to the New York Post’s Manish Mehta said “I wouldn’t let him play for me for free.”
The story from the New York Post added another quote from an anonymous front office employee from the NFL, saying “Revis is done.”
“You respect the body of work throughout his career, but all good things come to an end,” the same anonymous source said.
Revis’ physical ability has been under the microscope in recent years, but even more recently there has been a concern about his physical stature and his interest in staying in the game. Revis reportedly has dropped 17 pounds to get to 200 pounds, which is not viewed as an ideal weight for a defensive back in the NFL. Heck, it’s not an ideal for a 30-something sports blogger either. But that’s beside the point.
Revis has other baggage he is carrying, of course. An off-field incident in Pittsburgh may be enough for teams to throw up a caution flag, and he cannot make up for it with what he has done on the field lately. The NFL is very much a “what have you done lately” league (unless you are a quarterback it seems) and that does not appear to bode well for one of the best players at the position in the last decade.
Odds are Revis will land on an NFL roster in 2017. Even if he is a shell of what he used to be, his name alone will bring him to an NFL roster somewhere this offseason for offseason camps at the bare minimum. The only question is how much Revis will be signed for when the free agency experience comes to a close for him.
