Over the final days of the year, WEEI.com will count down the top 14 stories of 2014 in Boston sports. This is No. 8: Patriots acquire standout cornerback Darrelle Revis. To read other stories in this series, click here.
Darrelle Revis helped turn the Patriots defensive secondary into one of the team’s strength. (Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
Heading into the 2014 offseason, the Patriots were in desperate need of a premier pass-catcher. Instead, they got one of the league’s best at shutting down other team’s receivers.
The courtship of Darrelle Revis was brief and profitable. The veteran cornerback agreed to a deal with the Patriots on March 12 just hours after being released by the Buccaneers in a cost-cutting move.
Revis, whose best days were with the rival Jets from 2007-12, helped transform a New England defensive secondary that had struggled the previous few seasons, leading some to call him the 2014 Patriots MVP.
Heading into the final two games of the regular season, Revis had been targeted 74 times by opposing quarterbacks, who completed just 50 percent of those passes. The passer rating of those QBs when throwing at Revis was 68.7.
With Revis — along with some other key additions — the Patriots defense has improved from a rank of 25th in yards allowed and 23rd in points allowed last season to 16th in yards and eighth in points.
You needn’t convince Tom Brady of Revis’ importance to the team.
“He’s a phenomenal player and I’ve loved playing with him,” Brady said last week. ‘I’ve hated playing against him, and I’ve had my fair share of those opportunities. He’s a great teammate. He’s a phenomenal player. I think the thing that I’m so impressed with is his coverage skills without getting penalties.”
Revis also appears to have bought into the Patriot Way, focusing on the team rather than individual performance.
“Look, it’s a team effort, it’s a defensive effort. It’s all aboard,” he said earlier this month. “We have great, talented players on this team, this defense. We just have to continue to play great team ball, chemistry ball. We’ve been doing that. Guys have been coming to work. It doesn’t have anything to do with me, or me being the focal point. Everybody is doing their job, and it’s working well for us.”
Soon the focus will be on trying to keep Revis in Foxboro for another season. He signed a two-year deal in March, but it has a reported $20 million option and $25 million cap number for 2015, making it unlikely the Patriots will adhere to it.
“You guys know my contract — there’s no reason to really get into it,” Revis said before the season began. “I’m here. I’m here for this year. Everything else will take care of itself after the season.”
During his weekly appearance on the Middays with MFB show this week, ESPN’s Adam Schefter cautioned that Revis isn’t likely to take much of a hometown discount to remain with the Pats.
“I think the Revis story is still playing out,” Schefter said. “Darrelle Revis has been a great player for a long time. I’ve always look at him as a businessman — that he’s going to go where the best deal is. If the best deal is in New England, then fine. Does he like it there enough? If they win a Super Bowl, where he gets a Super Bowl on his resume, and he says, ‘Now I can just go for the best deal truly.’ Or is it worth it to compromise a little bit there to continue playing on in New England where you’ve got a shot to win the Super Bowl? That’s possible, too. The Darrelle Revis story obviously has yet to be written. I think he’d be open to going back to New England. But when I think of Darrelle Revis I think business first, always.”
Added Schefter: “The circumstances were such last year that it just played perfectly for both sides. And I’m sure that they both would like to be together next year in a perfect world. But again, we’ll see how Darrelle approaches that and what his thoughts are there. I’m sure he’s been very happy playing there this year, but again, it’s going to come down to money.”