I think the Jets are going to have a hard time trading Revis before the draft... not because of Revis, but because of the Jets. According to KFFL.com, the Jets are already $19.4M over the 2013 salary cap and if they trade Revis before June 1, they're going to take a $9M cap hit. That would put them almost $30M over the cap. Another factor will be, does Revis want to hit the open market? Right now, he's still under team control but he knows that while teams could trade for him, that's only about 3 or 4 teams in the bidding. If he refuses to work on a long term deal with a potential suitor, he won't get traded and have potentially 31 teams bidding for him next March. Throw these two important aspects into the discussion... I doubt Revis gets traded for legit value. I think that if Revis gets traded, it won't be until June 1st. By then, the Bucs would probably have already signed one FA CB and drafted another. At that point, there's no reason why the Bucs should even contemplate trading for Revis.
He's under team control. So it doesn't matter what Revis wants. I'm sure both teams involved in the trade would try to make sure he's happy about it, but ultimately it's not his decision.
The other 2 lines I bolded are the reasons why it's in the Jets best interest to trade him. They don't want 31 teams bidding. They want to control where he goes. Getting him out of the AFC and AFC East specifically are top priorities. Allowing the Patriots to sign him is suicidal. And if they wait too long, as you pointed out, the list of suitors dwindles.
They will take a cap hit this year if they trade him, but it frees up a lot more space for 2014. Letting him walk isn't an option for them. And they need the space.
He absolutely does have control on where he's going. Teams aren't going to want to part with a high draft pick(s) for a guy who may only give them one year so they're going to want to work out a long term deal before they make the trade. Revis is under no requirement to be receptive to those deals. He could very easily say no to every offer the prospective teams give him. If he doesn't agree to any long term deal, the price teams would pay are then greatly diminished. At that point, it wouldn't be worth it to the Jets to take the cap him and a substantially lesser offer. They're better off paying him this year, getting the year of play, and letting him walk than to take a 4th round pick for him. Heck, if the ride the year out with him and let him just walk, they'd probably get a 3rd round compensatory pick for him.
I totally agree with your second line. I think they will try to trade him, but it's the cap hit that I believe might prohibit the Jets from trading Revis before June 1st. Like I said above, I believe that if they do trade him, it will be after this years draft.
If because of the cap hit they take from Revis this year puts them over the cap by about $28.4M, they'll also have to figure out where they're going to cut that money from. Cutting 25% of your payroll isn't all that easy. They still have holes to fill and now they're creating another one by trading Revis. So, in essence, they're going increase they're cap hit, limit their spending,
and have another hole to fill? I don't really see that as a logical option. That's something Dominik would do. Personally, I think it's in the Jets best interests to wait until June to make a trade. Teams at that point would be at the bottom of the barrell as far as free agents go and possibly may have missed out in the draft. They could be more willing to pay the Jets asking price because in June, the Jets don't have to trade Revis... but teams do have holes to fill.
