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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers started the Darrelle Revis trade talks by asking for two first-rounders, according to Mike Freeman. Not surprisingly, no one bit. In fact, Freeman says the Bucs got 'laughed at'. Laughing stock forever!
No one was going to give up two first-rounders for Darrelle Revis. Not with that contract. Not one year after he was traded for a first-rounder and a mid-round pick. Certainly not at age 29 (once the season starts). It doesn't matter how good he is: he's on a contract no one seems to want, which means he's not worth much. Other teams would rather pay, say, Alterraun Verner and a few other guys while hanging on to their draft picks.
There's no real downside to asking for two first-rounders, though. Who knows, maybe some owner goes a little crazy. It wasn't that long ago that Al Davis was throwing around first-round picks for players like Richard Seymour, after all. More realistically, though, the Bucs could get a late-round pick -- if that.
The stumbling block is, as always, the cornerback's contract. No other cornerback in the NFL is making more than $10 million per year. The only other players on $16 million per year contracts are quarterbacks, Calvin Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald and Mario Williams. No one else even comes close. So there's little reason for other teams to touch Revis, even if none of his salary is guaranteed.
Which means that now we're at the point where a release seems like a foregone conclusion, already. Adam Schefter has moved on to saying "once" Revis is released, rather than "if". The Bucs have been trying to trade Revis at least since the scouting combine, and probably since well before that. That release should come on Wednesday.