Mangold and Revis Close to Signing New Deals?

Rumors were flying yesterday about two prominent Jets finally receiving contract extensions. Let's start with Revis since he's been the biggest story all of camp.

Yesterday morning, Tim Cowlishaw, a writer for the Dallas Morning News and a regular panelist on ESPN's Around The Horn tweeted that he had "inside information" that Revis would sign "probably Wednesday. The rest of the day, beat writers and national NFL sources scrambled to find any truth behind the tweet, but to no avail.

Cowlishaw is a well-respected columnist who has been around too long to simply make up stories to gain followers. But it is very curious that a Dallas writer would be the first one to find out about Revis, and not someone closer to the situation. Who is the source behind the information? Some have speculated that it's someone from HBO, seeing as how the Cowboys were on Hard Knocks two years ago, and it appears sources inside the Jets' and Revis's camps are following their recent gag order.

Bob Glauber of Newsday isn't quite so optimistic, saying there has been "little progress in the Revis talks." Rich Cimini agreed that the two sides weren't close. Cowlishaw isn't really saying much else, but he is sticking by his story. This is definitely something to watch for this week, as the season is just a few weeks away now.

This afternoon on ESPN Radio New York, Cowlishaw came on to defend his story. He said it "came out of the blue" from a source who has been "very right about everything," with the only strange thing about it being that a deal would either get done Wednesday or Saturday. As far as how much the contract would be worth, all he would say is that it was for a lot of guaranteed money. When Jody MacDonald asked him to rank his confidence of the story from 1-10, he gave an 8.5 or a 9, so read from that what you will.

While there's a lot of disagreement and confusion over the Revis situation, pretty much everyone is now agreeing that Nick Mangold is close to signing a contract extension that would make him the highest paid center in the NFL. Mangold wanted to get a deal done before the season started as he was set to be a free agent next year. As the best center in the NFL, the Jets would be smart to lock him up long-term.

Expect a deal to get done with Mangold in the next day or two. The center has done everything the right way in his short career with the Jets, never missing a game and never causing any problems in the locker room. Even this year, underpaid in the final year of his rookie contract, with even more reason than Revis to hold out, Mangold went to camp like a good soldier to play and help mentor Matt Slauson and Vladimir Ducasse.

And with Mangold and Ferguson under contract long-term, the Jets now have two cogs of their offensive line locked up. If Revis really is next, then only David Harris remains of the Core Four. It would be a heck of a coup for Mike Tannenbaum to lock up three of the four big free agents heading into next season, though Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, and Antonio Cromartie will want new contracts after the season.

UPDATE (August 24th): Mangold's deal is done. 7 years, $55 million dollars are the terms, making him the highest paid center in the NFL.