New York Jets general manager John Idzik made the call he had to, connecting with cornerback Darrelle Revis after reports surfaced the team was open to moving its star cornerback in a trade.
"I reached out to Darrelle and I made sure he knew exactly where we were coming from and that this is my first day on the job," Idzik said Friday on NBC Network's "Pro Football Talk." "And our message to everyone was, 'Give us a chance to get to know each other and introduce ourselves to each other.'
"A lot of the people in the building you know through football circles but you've never worked alongside each other. So give us that chance and give us the chance to go through our current roster, ultimately that's the basis of comparison to whatever you may contemplate doing. We haven't taken that first step and that's what I relayed to Darrelle."
It's a logical explanation, one that Revis "reacted well" to, according to Idzik. Added the new GM: "My feeling was that he was appreciative to hear from me about what happened."
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The Revis situation becomes the first major challenge of Idzik's tenure in New York. When healthy, Revis is the NFL's top cornerback, a player Rex Ryan has called the best in team history. Revis also is demanding the type of long-term investment that would give any football operation pause.
Idzik didn't tell Revis he would be traded, and he didn't tell him a deal would get done. He simply stated the obvious: He needs the time to have internal conversations with members of an organization he still is getting to know.
Remember, Idzik essentially is paying for the strategy of his predecessor. When Revis received a "Band-Aid" contract by the Jets in 2010, ex-GM Mike Tannenbaum got Revis back on the field at the cost of knowing he would have to deal with the same headache again.
Tannenbaum is gone, but the Revis conundrum lingers. John Idzik, this is the hand you've been dealt. Good luck.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.
