Darrelle Revis trade: Did the Bucs or Jets get the better deal?

Star cornerback Darrelle Revis was traded from the New York Jets to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend for the 13th overall pick in this week’s draft and a conditional fourth-round pick next year.

Revis has been rehabbing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee after tearing it in September and is entering the last season of his four-year contract signed in 2010. The four-time Pro Bowl selection had been the subject of trade rumors since the start of the off-season.

Writers from around Tribune Co. discuss which team got the better end of the deal. Feel free to join the conversation in the comments section.

Aaron Wilson, Baltimore Sun

Count the trade for Darrelle Revis as a clear victory for the Buccaneers, landing an elite cornerback to bolster one of the worst secondaries in the NFL.

Revis is expected to make a complete recovery from his knee injury. And he was signed to a six-year, $96-million contract that includes no guaranteed money, meaning there’s little risk involved for Tampa Bay if he doesn’t regain his All-Pro form.

For the Jets, it’s a defeat. They surrendered their best player and didn’t get enough in return in terms of draft compensation unless the first-round pick they acquired for this year becomes an impact player.

Jets General Manager John Idzik attempted to salvage an ugly situation given Revis’ penchant for contract holdouts, but cooler heads should have prevailed. Revis should still be a Jet, not a Buccaneer.

[Updated at 10:52 a.m.:

Dan Pompei, Chicago Tribune

The trade of Darrelle Revis should help the Jets more than it helps the Bucs. The Jets pretty much had to trade Revis or make him the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL. They traded him, and received decent compensation in return -- the 13th overall pick this year, and probably a third-round pick next year.

The fact that Revis reportedly will earn $16 million a year makes him less valuable, because he’s going to be hogging a disproportionate share of his team’s cash and cap space. The Jets are in rebuilding mode and will be better served with a younger, cheaper cornerback than a soon-to-be 28-year-old coming off a knee injury.

Revis is a great cornerback, but he’s a cornerback. Cornerbacks can’t impact the game as much as players at some other positions.]

[Updated at 1:43 p.m.:

Sam Farmer, Los Angeles Times

The Bucs got the better deal. They’re getting the type of All-Pro corner, albeit one with some miles on him, that they were unlikely to get with the 13th pick in this year’s draft. In a division with quarterbacks Drew Brees and Matt Ryan and a bevy of top-shelf receivers, Tampa Bay was desperate for a shutdown corner.

The Jets made out OK with two picks in the top half of a solid but not spectacular first round, and a conditional fourth-rounder (likely a third-rounder) next year. But it isn’t going to be easy to replace their best player.

Nick Fierro, Allentown Morning Call

Although trading away your best player is rarely a great idea, the Jets get the better end of this deal. Of course, that’s contingent on turning the first-round draft pick they get into a big-time contributor on a team whose talent base became so ridiculously depleted under former GM Mike Tannenbaum that the damage can’t be undone in one or even two seasons.

They need quantity at this point more than quality. Owning two of the first 13 picks on Thursday gives them a chance to get both. Even if Revis can once again prove to be the NFL’s best corner, which is never a given for someone at that position coming off ACL surgery, the soonest the Jets will be able to contend again will be too late for Revis to make a difference.]

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