The Patriots Deserve a 1st Round Swap for the Jets Tampering with Darrelle Revis

The Patriots lost out on Darrelle Revis to the Jets, who reportedly signed a five year deal for $70 million, with $39 million fully guaranteed and $48 million over the first three seasons. This is what is called a Godfather offer because it's an offer he can't refuse.

Revis is chasing the money and that's his prerogative. It's unfortunate that it's back with the Jets, but New England should receive the top compensatory pick for the second season in a row as a result of his contract (the Patriots are expected to receive the top pick this season for Aqib Talib).

The compensatory pick will be in the 3rd round, and that's fine, but it's not worth the same as Revis.

Instead, the Patriots and Jets should swap first round picks as a direct result of the Jets tampering.

In December, the Jets owner made it clear that he would like Darrelle Revis to return to New York. Per the league's Anti-Tampering rules, franchises aren't allowed to comment on signing players on other teams, which makes it a pretty straight forward violation.

Throughout the off-season, the Jets front office leaked to the media that they were willing to pay top dollar and go all out to bring Revis home. It is also against the Anti-Tampering rules to utilize the media to express interest in a player under contract with another team.

New York has been in clear violation for months and the Patriots should be compensated for their obvious rule breaking.

In 2008, the San Francisco 49ers were required to swap third round picks with the Chicago Bears, as well as vacate a 5th round pick, as a result of tampering with linebacker Lance Briggs. Briggs didn't even sign with the 49ers- he remained in Chicago.

If direct tampering that didn't result in a player move is worth a swap of third round picks, the act of tampering that does bring a player across team borders should be worth a first round pick. There's no debate.

A league that loves to make an example of the Patriots needs to take the necessary steps to prevent such obvious tampering in the future.