At this point, it is going to take a lot for the actual Jets football season to be more entertaining than the offseason.
The Darrelle Revis watch is close to melting down after three days of wildly varying reports about just how close the cornerback is to signing a new contract with the Jets. Tim Cowlishaw touched things off on Sunday with a tweet that claimed Revis would be signing his new deal on Wednesday, a tweet that was quickly and roundly dismissed by just about every person who makes a living by reporting on the Jets.
Tuesday things heated up even more as Cowlishaw reported that the Jets and Revis were meeting and that Revis was taping a TV interview to air on Wednesday, although he wasn't sure if the interview was for "Hard Knocks." Dan Graziano of FanHouse also reported that the meeting was taking place and that the two sides were "almost there" on a new deal. And a Pittsburgh TV guy tweeted that the deal is going to be for $150 million over 10 years with $65 million guaranteed.
The Jets denied the reports of a meeting, something passed along by many of the same guys who denied the initial reports on Sunday. One thing that runs through those reports is that the word "indications" is used a lot, which leaves some wiggle room to say that the Jets, barred from commenting by their gag order, aren't commenting one way of the other. That doesn't mean any of these guys are wrong, just that they aren't attached to Mike Tannenbaum's right hip and following his every step.
It also doesn't mean that Cowlishaw and Graziano are wrong. There's always this urge to declare a winner in these kinds of things, something that will happen at some point on Wednesday but all of these guys are good reporters who are going with what sources are telling them. Someone's sources are better connected than the others but no one is simply making things up out of thin air.
The complete absence of information coming from the people who actually know where things stand has created a feeding frenzy because everyone is starved for an idea of when this holdout is going to end. No news isn't good news in this case, it is a bleeding hole in the middle of Jets coverage that needs to be filled. Revis is just that important to the Jets and to the people whose business it is to cover the Jets.
It's fascinating stuff. Someone should really make a TV show about this team.
U.S. & World
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.
