Darrelle Revis reports to camp

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CORTLAND, N.Y -- Darrelle Revis wasn't sure he would make it to New York Jets camp until just a few days ago.

The team's starting cornerback, who held out in 2010 before signing what's been called a band-aid of a contract, has made no secret that he expected the deal would be reworked.

Nevertheless, Revis loaded up his silver Mini Cooper today and drove here as the team reported to dorms at SUNY Cortland for the start of camp.

"I want to be here, I want to be around the team," Revis explained, then deadpanned, "and I haven't been to a lot of training camps in the past."

There was truth in the joke. Last year the lockout meant that the Jets' training camp was at the Florham Park practice facility. In 2010, Revis' holdout was one of the threads in the HBO series "Hard Knocks."

Revis would be notable for his absence this year, more so because of the way the defense struggled in 2011.

"It was a big decision for me to hold out or not, and I decided to come here and be prepared and be ready for the season," Revis said on "The Michael Kay Show" on Thursday afternoon.

But his willingness to show up doesn't mean everything is solved. Revis has said he wanted to be a Jet for life, and that was the hope when general manager Mike Tannenbaum and team owner Woody Johnson inked the front-loaded four-year deal in 2010.

"Something's got to happen sooner or later in terms of my future with the team," Revis said. "Like I said, I want to be here and I hope Mike and Mr. Woody want me here. But besides that I just got to play football and keep playing as best I can."

Revis noted he never said he was unhappy with his contract, which has two years remaining during which he will be paid $13.5 million. Even with that number, Revis is arguably being paid less than market value two years after being told he would be the Jets' franchise player. Reworking his deal is apparently not on the short list for the team, which leaves Revis with some unanswered questions.

"Well I think the big picture of that is, the question will be, do they want me to leave?" Revis told ESPN New York. "Do they see me as the face or do they want to let me go, it's really up to them."

The four-time Pro Bowl selection is arguably the best cornerback in football, and endured the team's wooing of Nnamdi Asomugha last offseason. Asomugha ended up signing a five-year, $60 million deal with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Asked if Revis would be willing to rework his contract once the season was under way, he said of course he would but doubts it will happen.

"I don't think Mike (Tannenbaum) would do that during the season because it is a distraction," Revis said. "I think you probably want to handle that matter during the offseason."

Revis still hopes his agents and Tannenbaum will continue to talk.

"Hopefully they will see me as maybe the face or the franchise guy and lock me up," Revis told ESPN New York. "But if not then I think we all kind of know where it's going in terms of, you know I'm a person, it's my career and I have to do what I need to do for my family. I think that's the biggest thing."

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Jane McManus

ESPNNewYork.com

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Jane McManus has covered New York sports since 1998 and began covering football just before Brett Favre's stint with the Jets. Her work has appeared in Newsday, USA Today, The Journal News and The New York Times. Follow Jane on Twitter.