Two Jets will enter the hallowed grounds of the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday in Canton, Ohio.
One will go in with the unconditional love of every Jets fan. The other will go in as somewhat of an enigmatic figure — although madly respected for what he did on the field — not unanimously beloved by fans because of a complicated relationship with the franchise.
Tenacious and versatile defensive lineman Joe Klecko will enter the Hall to welcoming open arms from all Jets fans, whose embrace is even warmer given the 29 years he had to wait for the call.
Cornerback Darrelle Revis, who trademarked “Revis Island’’ and was the definition of the overused football phrase “lockdown corner’’ with his suffocating coverage, has been less embraced by Jets faithful as a result of his bitter contract disputes with the team and because he won a Super Bowl with the hated Patriots as a one-season hired gun.
There, too, was an inane recent social-media spat in which Revis publicly contested that Klecko was the greatest defensive player in Jets history, and that it was, in fact, Revis who should own that title.
While those things are somewhat understandable from a fans’ standpoint, it’s also unfair given the kind of player Revis was and the way he conducted himself on and off the field — always with quiet class and never getting into trouble.
Hall of Fame this weekend.
Revis should be celebrated for how good he was as a Jet. He was one of the hardest-working, most prepared players I’ve ever covered in my 35-plus years around the team. Revis watched so much film on the receivers he was going to cover that he knew their routes better than they did.
“One of the real privileges of my career was getting to watch him at practice,’’ former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum, the man who traded up in the 2007 NFL Draft to make Revis a Jet, told The Post. “He was the best practice player I’ve ever seen. I felt like he really set the standard for the entire organization.’’
When I asked Tannenbaum about how enigmatic Revis was in his own locker room, where many teammates never really got to know him well, he said: “He was one of those guys that walked quietly but carried a big stick … and he had the biggest stick of them all. He had the respect of everybody in the building, because he earned it every single day.’’
Tannenbaum called Revis “the greatest corner in the history of our game, because, unlike the others like Deion [Sanders], he thrived in all phases of the game, including tackling and physicality. I know I’m a million-percent biased when I say this, but he’s simply the greatest corner to ever play.’’
Like Tannenbaum, Eric Mangini, Revis’ first head coach with the Jets, said he was never concerned about the cornerback being more introverted and not a vocal locker room leader.
“One of the great things about Darrelle’s greatness is he didn’t need to be the center of attention,’’ Mangini told The Post. “There are some guys who need to carry the flag, make the team speech. That part of their identity validates their greatness. That wasn’t Darrelle. The story didn’t have to be about him. There’s a real value in that. Leadership takes different forms.’’
Mark Sanchez was a rookie quarterback in 2009, Revis’ third season and head coach Rex Ryan’s first with the Jets. Sanchez has vivid memories not only of respecting Revis, but also of being intimidated by him because he was so good.
“He had all this buzz around him, but he didn’t have that off-the-field persona that a lot of these other great defensive backs have, like Deion Sanders,’’ Sanchez told The Post. “He wasn’t loud. If anything, he was pretty mild mannered and reserved, but just an absolute assassin when it came to playing ball.
“When he showed up on Sundays, I felt bad for receivers on the other team. You knew what he was going to do — he was going to kick someone’s ass and shut them down, because he showed up in the biggest moments. That was a guarantee. It was so fun to watch.’’
It was fun for Sanchez … except during Jets practices when he had to go up against the cornerback.
“Sometimes he was running the route my receiver was supposed to be running and was where I was supposed to throw the ball, and I’m like, ‘What the hell is that?’ ’’ Sanchez recalled. “I’d look over at Schotty [offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer] or Rex and would be like, ‘What do you want me to do?’ There’s no answer for that.’’
Sanchez laughed at remembering: “Sometimes, I would complete a ball on Revis I was like, ‘Yes!’ And it was like second-and-3.’’
“The No. 1 thing you’re trying instill in a rookie quarterback is confidence,’’ Sanchez said. “It’s really hard to get your rookie quarterback confident when you got a guy like Revis that just shuts you down every day. It was like trying to do layup lines with Dikembe Mutombo waiting there for you at the basket, swatting your shot into the seventh row and you’re like, ‘Damn, I can’t even make a layup.’ ’’
Asked if he ever joked with Revis about being so difficult on him in practice, Sanchez said: “I wish I would have interacted and talked to him more, but he was so quiet, I didn’t want to piss him off or bother him. He had some special edge to him and it was fascinating. It was cool to watch. I’m happy I got to see that.’’
That appreciation for Revis’ greatness — more so than the bitter contract disputes, the year in New England, the fact he wasn’t embraceable and the things that made his tenure with the team complicated — is what we should remember this weekend as he is enshrined.
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