The bad news continues to roll in for two AFC East Division rivals. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was fined $10,000 for a slide in the AFC Championship Game loss and the New York Jets may trade their franchise cornerback Darrelle Revis.
Brady had his leg up high when sliding late in the first half of Sunday's 28-13 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, ESPN Boston reports.
While still moving low to the ground, Brady clipped Ravens safety Ed Reed, who appeared to be avoiding contact with Brady to avoid a penalty. Ravens safety Bernard Pollard called for the NFL to investigate the hit earlier this week, claiming Brady was trying to hurt Reed.
Pollard ended Brady's 2008 season with a late swipe toward Brady's ankle, resulting in a torn ACL for the three-time Super Bowl champ. Pollard was also involved in a play in which Patriots receiver Wes Welker tore his ACL and was out until the next season. The Ravens' secondary defenseman sprained Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski's ankle in last season's AFC Championship and also knocked Pats running back Stevan Ridley out cold with an illegal, helmet-to-helmet hit on Sunday.
ESPN New York said that Jets owner Woody Johnson is worried Revis would cost too much once his current contract expires, meaning the New York club has one season left to either let him walk as a free agent or trade him to get some value beyond the 2013 season. Because of a clause in his contract, the Jets cannot place the franchise tag on Revis to keep him in town for at least one more year, which limits the negotiating window the team will have with other teams to trade him.
The Jets are already almost $20 million over the salary cap, so unless many moves are made to dump salary, there isn't much space (if any) for the Jets to increase any potential offers, especially if that involves matching another team's offer on the open market. It is believed that Revis could fetch more than $15 million per season. In his current deal, Revis will make $6 million for 2013.
Revis is one of the most electric players in the NFL when healthy, but had knee surgery only half a year ago.