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With news surfacing Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis may be available via trade, 31 teams in the NFL likely begin to wonder whether the sixth-year player coming off a torn ACL would be a value-add, given the Jets' alleged asking price of a first round pick.
Revis' current contract with the Jets has him on the hook for the 2013 season at $6 million, and is owed $3 million per season from 2014-16. Those seasons are voidable, though, essentially meaning he's a free agent after 2013, and Revis's $32.5 million guaranteed has been paid from when he signed his deal in 2010.
The two questions surrounding him would be the health of his knee, and his desire to play for a team uninterested in signing Revis to a long-term deal on top of what he has already. And for a first-round pick, it's not likely a team would want to add another $30 million guaranteed to their books, even if it is for the man likely to be the best cornerback in the NFL.
It basically would be the right to sign him to a top cornerback contract before he hit free agency, and give a first round pick up for that right.
Worth a shot for the Jets. If it didn't work, they're saddled with the burden of having one of the best defensive players in the game for $6 million this year. Assuming he doesn't hold out, that is.
One advantage the Steelers would have - even if it is highly unlikely they'd show any interest - would be in the fact he's from Alaquippa, Pa., and he played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh. Even with a deal that would be cap-friendly (provided Revis, who's already held out twice from previous contract issues and has threatened to hold out again heading into the final year of his deal) toward the Steelers, and despite the growing amount of talent they are stockpiling at the cornerback position, it would be worth a shake for the Steelers to explore it, and - without tampering, of course - gauge the interest the rehabbing superstar might have in joining his hometown team.
At the price of a first round pick, though, it's likely too much for a team needing to rebuild its playmaker-depleted roster to give up on a per-dollar basis.
Teams are usually more likely to hold onto first round picks in the hope of finding an outstanding player who can contribute at that high level for the duration of his rookie contract, where he won't make all that much in comparison to what the market will pay for that production.
Certainly, the addition of Revis would give the Steelers the best and deepest group of cornerbacks available, and could, in a way, come at a zero loss in terms of what the team is likely stashing away to re-sign CB Keenan Lewis.
None of that answers the two questions, though. Is he going to come back to 100 percent physically, and assuming he is, would he play for a deal that wouldn't hurt the team's cap position too much in the future?
The latter of those two issues is likely enough to keep Revis in New York until after the 2013 season.