Source: Darrelle Revis, Jets 'Almost There' on New Deal

Could Darrelle Revis' contract holdout with the Jets soon come to an end?

It's been a weird couple of days trying to make sense of the Darrelle Revis contract negotiations with the Jets, but one source close to the situation told FanHouse on Tuesday that the star cornerback's long-awaited contract extension with the team is "almost there" and could be finalized and announced in the coming days.

Dallas Morning News columnist Tim Cowlishaw claimed via Twitter over the weekend that Revis and the Jets were closing in on a deal and that it could be announced as early as Wednesday. Back-channel sources spent much of the early part of the week denying that report, but Cowlishaw stood by his story.

FanHouse's source said Tuesday that the Cowlishaw report was accurate, that the two sides were planning to meet Tuesday night, and that the negotiations had progressed to the point where the deal could be announced in the coming days.

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Currently scheduled to make $1 million in 2010, and with three years remaining on his rookie contract, Revis has not attended a practice since the Jets started training camp more than three weeks ago. He has said that he was promised a new contract by the team, and that he'd like to earn more than the $15.1 million per season that Oakland's Nnamdi Asomugha earns as the league's highest-paid cornerback.

The Jets have said they are willing to give Revis a new deal, but privately their position has been that the Asomugha deal is aberrant, not reflective of where the market for the top CBs should be, and that they are willing to make him the second-highest-paid corner in the league. Negotiations have been contentious, and the two sides agreed a couple of weeks ago to stop talking about them in the media.

FanHouse's source theorized that the mutual vow of silence was the reason for the back-channel denials of Cowlishaw's Twitter report, and went so far as to speculate that information about center Nick Mangold's new contract was leaked, at least in part, to help smokescreen the Revis deal as it neared completion but remained in a delicate state.

It's not clear how much Revis' new deal would pay him. Some reports had him asking for $162 million over 10 years, but it suffices to say he won't get that much. Assuming all goes as well as it seems to be going, and the two sides do reach a compromise in the coming days, Revis, the Jets and Jets fans everywhere will be thrilled to see their best player in uniform once again, and in plenty of time for the regular-season opener Sept. 13.

UPDATE: Multiple reports Wednesday indicated that no meeting took place Tuesday between Revis' side and the Jets, and there was no deal announced Wednesday. Regardless, FanHouse's source reiterated Wednesday that the two sides continue to talk, have been talking all along and are making good progress on a deal that should be reached and announced soon.