Fennelly: Moving Revis not high priority for Bucs By Martin Fennelly | Tribune Staff Published: February 28, 2014 at 12:41 PM
The Bucs trading Darrelle Revis, the rumor, at least, should be consigned to a waste bin.For now.The real football news is Tampa has lost out on another Super Bowl, as Wild West Arizona has calmed down and clearly will host the next Super Bowl after the governor vetoed state legislation that would have allowed business owners to refuse someone service on religious grounds, stoning optional, I believe.So forget that NFL backup plan to move the big game to Tampa. You know, finishing second to ice cold New York hurt, but I'm OK with losing out to civil rights. So we make our own traffic that week. We're just the folks to do it, too. See you at the junction.And now back to the Revis logjam.I don't see how you get a fair exchange, or how there will be that many takers given what the Bucs will pay the man in 2014, a non-guaranteed $16 million.I don't know who started this Revis stuff. Could it have been a rival team? The Bucs? Revis or his agent?What I do know is the last thing the Bucs need to do is make a hole where there isn't one.Revis might not be, as he contends, the best cornerback in the NFL (Arizona's Patrick Peterson and Seattle's Richard Sherman, the human megaphone, deserve shout-outs), but he can do anything on a football field against most anyone.He's an asset. Why go trading one of those, taking a step back, when you're ready to move forward under a new coach?Are Lovie Smith and new Bucs defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier really going to discount what Revis brings to the table because they have a different table in mind? I would hope not, or I'd wonder about the both of them.Smith offered some daylight last week at the NFL scouting combine.“We're primarily going to be a man team,” Smith said. “Whether we win or lose is going to be based on how we play man coverage.''Then what's this Revis nonsense about?Well, there are a few wild cards here.This potentially could be the deepest NFL draft in 10 years.And there could be potential Revis bidders.Look at a team like the 49ers, which has stockpiled draft picks, isn't paying quarterback Colin Kaepernick that much (yet) and happens to be chasing the Super Bowl Seahawks and their shutdown secondary.You dangle a late first-round pick, plus a second-round pick, or two thirds,If you're the Bucs, you'd have to consider that, absolutely.Remember, you won four games with Revis.You have to consider a trade if the offer is overpowering.But consider, too, that Revis' knee will be a year healthier. And who do you plug in if he's gone? You're back to being a bad secondary.Revis is expensive, but the Bucs can afford him.And the Bucs have bigger priorities.Like finding a pass rusher, praying that Jadeveon Clowney magically drops to No. 7 or Khalil Mack is still there.Like finding a receiver who can take a pass and run away with it, or a tight end who is a menace inside the 20.Like finding a receiver to replace Mike Williams if Smith decides he doesn't want to deal with Williams' errant lifestyle, which falls somewhere between Delta House and the Wolf of Wall Street.Like finding a quarterback, either with the seventh pick or on the open market, to compete with (and beat out) Mike Glennon.Moving Revis should be way down on the list.Unless someone makes an offer the Bucs can't refuse.Until then, it's much ado about, well, you know.
