New York Jets owner Woody Johnson covered a wide array of topics on Monday morning after the team announced the firing of head coach Rex Ryan and general manager John Idzik. One name that came up was Darrelle Revis, and Johnson may have committed a tampering violation while discussing the All-Pro cornerback.
Revis is currently under contract with the New England Patriots, who are gearing up for another postseason run. The fact that Revis is currently signed with another team typically prohibits members of other organizations from saying stuff like this.
“I’d love to have Darrelle Revis back,” Johnson said during his Monday press conference.
As Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports noted, Johnson was saying he would have loved to have re-signed Revis at the $12 million the Patriots got him for this season. Idzik’s decision to ignore Revis after the Pro Bowler was released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers likely contributed to Johnson’s decision to fire Idzik.
Johnson was accused of tampering with DeSean Jackson back in March, which prompted NJ.com’s Dom Cosentino to highlight the following section of the NFL’s tampering policy.
Any public or private statement of interest, qualified or unqualified, in another club’s player or that player’s agent or representative, or to a member of the news media, is a violation of this Anti-Tampering Policy. (Example of a prohibited comment: “He’s an excellent player, and we’d very much like to have him if he were available, but another club holds his rights.”)
You can’t say you would love to sign a player when that player is not a free agent. We know teams — the Jets included — commit minor violations of the league’s tampering policy quite often, but Johnson’s remarks seemed pretty blatant.
