Larry Brown Sports

The New York Jets may have already explored the possibility of trading Darrelle Revis this offseason, but only the team knows whether they intend to hang onto their franchise corner or turn him into draft picks. Revis said he would like to remain in New York, but he has acknowledged that whether or not he stays is ultimately not his decision.

During an interview with Andrea Kremer of the NFL Network Monday night, the four-time Pro Bowler said he has spoken to head coach Rex Ryan since the rumors surfaced. Basically, Revis feels that Rex wants to keep him and that team owner Woody Johnson is the driving force behind the speculation.

“It starts from the top, it starts with Woody Johnson,” Revis said when asked about his relationship with Ryan, via ESPNNewYork.com.

Kremer then asked Revis if he feels as though Johnson does not want to pay him what it will take to keep him with the Jets long term.

“That might be a situation,” he said. “That might be something. That might be an option. If I do get traded, I’m not going to sit here and pout and cry, but I told them numerous times that I want to be there so it’s up to them and management of what they want to do.

“I don’t know if they’re doing that because they think I’m not going to get back to 100 percent. I’m a Jet until they tell me I’m not a Jet.”

The NFL is a business, and Johnson is the one controlling the funds for this particular company. If he decides to trade Revis this offseason to help better prepare the team for the future, that’s his prerogative. However, Revis has been the anchor of New York’s defense since Ryan took over. If Johnson trades the star corner, he may also be signaling the end of the Rex Ryan era.

Photo credit: Kevin Hoffman-US PRESSWIRE

Like the rest of us, Darrelle Revis has caught wind of the reports that the New York Jets are exploring the possibility of trading him this offseason. On Thursday afternoon, the three-time All-Pro took to Twitter to share a brief thought about the rumors:

I’m speechless by far but more importantly I feel more upset for the jet nation for having to go through this!!!

— Darrelle Revis (@Revis24) January 24, 2013

Revis has had his share of ups and downs with regard to his contract since the Jets drafted him in the first round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He has already held out once, and he flirted with the idea of doing it again prior to the 2012 season. If the Jets feels that they need more draft picks in order to contend, Revis is the one player that would yield the biggest return.

What’s also interesting to note is that Jets owner Woody Johnson and general manager John Idzik, who was introduced to the New York media on Thursday, were given a chance to deny the rumors. Neither one took advantage of the opportunity.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Johnsons said of the report, without clarifying if it was true or not.

Idzik gave a similar response when asked about Revis.

“I think it’s way premature to say anything specific,” he said. “I think it would be presumptuous to say anything on that.”

Idzik gave essentially the same answer when asked about any other potential roster moves regarding players like Mark Sanchez or Tim Tebow. The “sources” that gave the information about the Jets wanting to trade Revis are in all likelihood former GM candidates who didn’t get the job, so there’s no guarantee their information is good. That being said, it wouldn’t exactly be shocking if New York traded its star corner should a good offer come along.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

The New York Jets insisted they intended to make Tim Tebow a major part of their offense this season after the acquired the quarterback via trade, but through nine games we have not seen it. New York is a disappointing 3-6, and their locker room is seemingly in disarray and getting worse by the day. You could easily make the argument that the Tebow trade was a PR stunt that has backfired badly, but Jets owner Woody Johnson does not want to hear that.

“This, I really want to clean up,” Johnson told the NY Post on Thursday. “You guys have been accusing me — this phony story — about me being more concerned with PSLs or cash or something else. My job 1, 2 and 3 is to win games. That’s why I got into football to begin with. It’s to win games. It’s not to sell PSLs or anything else. My job is to win games. That’s what my passion is. That’s what I want to do. That’s why I’m spending all this time in this organization. It’s not to sell PSLs or to sell hot dogs. It’s to win games. That’s my job. I take it very seriously.”

Johnson went on to say that no one in the organization is happy with a 3-6 record, including Rex Ryan and general manager Mike Tannenbaum. The Jets owner also agreed with Ryan that the anonymous Tebow bashers acted cowardly, but like Bart Scott he said he feels the negative publicity could bring the team closer together.

Shortly after the Jets traded for Tebow last winter, Johnson was quick to point out that the team had not seen a significant spike in merchandise sales. We hope that has since changed for the sake of the franchise, because other than merchandise sales I don’t see what Tebow has been able to bring to the table to this point.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

When the Jets acquired Tim Tebow this past offseason, most people (including this Hall of Famer) thought it would become a major distraction. Very few felt it helped New York from a football standpoint, and through the first four weeks of the season we can see why. The Wildcat has done nothing for the Jets and Tebow has played only 15 snaps at quarterback. Mark Sanchez, who many thought would be motivated by having Tebow behind him, has a passer rating of 69.6 and has looked awful since turning in a solid performance against the Bills in Week 1.

Coming off a game where he completed 13-of-29 passes for 103 yards, one interception and no touchdowns in the Jets’ shutout loss to the Niners, the “start Tim Tebow” talk has already begun. According to ESPNNewYork.com, Jets owner Woody Johnson would not rule out benching Sanchez during his recent interview with Bloomberg TV.

Johnson said the prospect of Tebow starting is “a question that will be asked more frequently if this progresses because this is unacceptable playing.” His first reference to Sanchez wasn’t by name; he called him “this quarterback.”

Oh, Johnson gave the obligatory “he can get the job done” line, but Johnson didn’t sound nearly as confident in Sanchez as he did that sunny day in March, when the Grand Tebow Plan was only a blueprint, not reality.

Rich Cimini is referring to when Johnson emphatically stated that “Mark Sanchez is our starting quarterback” back in March when the Tebow trade was completed. A recent report from ESPN’s Ed Werder also indicated that Tebow has been unhappy with his role, which would seem consistent with another report that said he may ask for a trade in 2013 if things don’t change.

Tebow supposedly chose to be traded to the Jets over the Jaguars because he thought he had a chance to beat out Sanchez for the starting job. With Santonio Holmes sidelined and Sanchez struggling, it’s hard to believe he won’t be given that chance if New York’s offense continues to prove it can’t get the job done.

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

Woody Johnson is a big Mitt Romney supporter. He is also the owner of an NFL franchise that hasn’t won a championship since Super Bowl 3 in 1969, so he is currently not the most popular person among Jets fans. He will likely be even less popular after admitting during a recent interview with Bloomberg TV that Romney winning the upcoming presidential election is more important than Rex Ryan and company enjoying a successful season.

“Well, I think you always have to put country first,” Johnson said when asked which is more important. “So I think it’s very, very important — not only for us but in particular our kids and grandkids — that this election come off with Mitt Romney and (vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan) as president and vice president.”

While there will be countless Jets fans who blast Johnson for not caring about the team because of this, that was an extremely difficult question to answer. First of all, he was having a political discussion. His audience at the time clearly wasn’t football fans. Secondly, if he answered by saying the Jets are more important people would be blasting him for being out of touch with reality and caring more about a game than our country.

Johnson has said some questionable things about his team in the past, but this shouldn’t be considered one of them. The answer he gave was appropriate for the forum.

H/T Pro Football Talk

In all likelihood, we will never know what went on behind the scenes during the Peyton Manning free agent sweepstakes. When Manning finally decides on a destination for 2012, we will have nothing but speculation as to what other teams were in the mix for his services. However, Jets owner Woody Johnson would like everyone to believe it was the Jets choice to not bring in Manning — not the other way around.

“We passed on him,” Johnson said during an appearance on the FOX Business Network, according to the NY Post. “We’re signed up with our quarterback. We’ve got a pretty good tether, we’ve got five years. We like Mark.”

Johnson added that he believes Jets fans will see a “growth spurt” from Sanchez this season and that he will thrive in Tony Sparano’s offense. Time will tell if that is true or not, but I find it hard to believe that New York simply “passed” on Peyton Manning. Early reports indicated Manning would not consider playing in the same city as his brother, anyway. Add in the rumors that he is in search of a warm-weather destination and it sounds like the Jets would have been an extreme long-shot to sign the four-time MVP. Johnson and company could be happy with Sanchez as their quarterback of the future, but I doubt they would have turned Peyton away if he was interested in joining the team.

Anonymous Jets sources ripped Mark Sanchez in a New York Daily News article published Wednesday. One of the notable criticisms of Sanchez was that he was “lazy.” Sanchez may not have grown as a quarterback, and he may be protected by the team from the media, but several Jets have disputed the accusation about his work ethic.

Center Nick Mangold says Sanchez puts in more work and more time than anybody else in the locker room. Team owner Woody Johnson said the same thing.

“He’s the first guy in the building every morning,” Johnson told MSNBC, “and the last guy to leave.”

Former Jets receiver Derrick Mason, who was traded to Houston in October, expressed similar support for Sanchez.

“I never seen the lack of effort [from Sanchez]. He worked extremely hard on the practice field. He studied his butt off and he’s a guy that wanted to get better each and every game,” Mason told FOX Sports Radio’s Andy Furman and Artrell Hawkins. “I just think he was inconsistent throughout the whole season last year.”

Mason didn’t have an explanation for Sanchez’s inconsistency, but he defended his work ethic.

If everyone says Sanchez is working hard, then why do people think he’s lazy? I think the issue is perception. When people see Sanchez posing in GQ spreads and hear him linked to women like Kate Upton, they immediately assume he’s just a partyer, even if he’s not. That’s why it’s best to wait until you’ve achieved high levels of success over several years in the NFL before you begin expanding your profile off the field.