Patriots owner Robert Kraft: “I would love it” if Darrelle Revis came back to New England

OK, NFL owners, do you guys all have a secret handshake where whenever you’re talking about Darrelle Revis, you have to say you’d “love” to have him?

Woody Johnson, 2014: “I would love to have Darrelle back.”

Robert Kraft, yesterday: “I would love it.”

(Of course, Revis was a free agent when one of those guys said that, and happened to be under contract when the other one said it, but that’s another story for another day.)

Anyway, Robert Kraft was answering some questions at NFL league meetings on Monday when Gary Myers from the New York Daily News (that’s not the paper that lives to tool New England, don’t worry) asked Kraft what he thought about a potential reunion with the artist formerly known as Revis Island. Here’s Kraft’s full answer (from WEEI):

“I would love it. Speaking for myself, if he wanted to come back, he’s a great competitor, I’d welcome if he wanted to come.”

Myers asked Kraft if there had been any contact between the Patriots and Revis and he replied, “Ask my boy,” referring to Bill Belichick.

Revis coming back to the Patriots has been one of the more more popular rumors this offseason not involving Jimmy Garoppolo, and if you had a dime for every time Bill Belichick took a gamble on an older defensive player still having some good ball left in them, you’d be eating in the same restaurants Bob Kraft does. Sure, Revis got roasted and toasted by almost everyone he lined up against in 2016 (and so did the Jets), and he’s past the dreaded 30th birthday now, but you also have to wonder if one trash year of football is enough to look at one of the best corners of his generation and be like “Nah, we’re good.”

Of course, the big wild card in all this is Malcolm Butler, who Kraft also said on Monday that he’s not interested in trading. If Strap stays in New England, it’d be hard to see where Revis fits in at all, given that he’d surely be fourth at best on the cornerback depth chart, and that’s not even figuring that Revis may have been serious about transferring to safety, where - stick with me here - even if he did switch, he’d be...buried at least fourth on the depth chart, behind Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, and he of the brand spanking new contract, Duron Harmon. Going back to the cornerback spot, even if Butler ends up somewhere else this year, barring Revis lighting it up in training camp, he’d still more than likely be behind Eric Rowe and Stephon Gilmore, and the Patriots have also made it pretty clear that they’re not giving up on 2016 second-round pick Cyrus Jones either. When Belichick goes out of his way during a press conference to skip his normal “I’m doing what’s best for the football team” and basically says “Everyone makes mistakes”, that’s as close to a vote of confidence as you’ll get out of Bill.

In the meantime, Revis can count on making $6,000,000 from the Jets this year for doing nothing at all, unless someone else decides to pony up with an offer that would be, quite literally, worth his time.

After all, if you’re good at something (or at least were good at something very recently), never do it for free.