Darrelle Revis says 'the sky's the limit' for this year's Jets defense

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Darrelle Revis is back with the New York Jets, and he sounds more confident than ever.

"I think I'm better than I was before," Revis said Tuesday, the opening day of the Jets' voluntary veteran minicamp. "I think I'm way more smarter, and way more intelligent at the game."

The four-time first-team All-Pro, 29, signed with the Jets last month, two years after the team traded him away to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was a free agent last spring and wanted to return to the Jets, but they didn't pursue him. He signed with the archrival New England Patriots instead and won a Super Bowl ring.

"I was knocking on the [Jets'] door when I went into free agency after I left Tampa," Revis said. "I got denied. We don't look at it like hatred or anything like that -- it's business. They felt that I wasn't the guy to be, that's fine. Everybody has to build a 53-man roster, and I wasn't selected. It's OK. Other teams out there in free agency wanted me to play for their ballclub.

"Never thought I would be back, [but] there was an opportunity for me to come back, and this is where I'm most comfortable. This is where I was drafted. This is home."

Revis said he has been working out at the Jets' practice facility since the start of the offseason workout program. He said he has not yet spoken with Jets owner Woody Johnson, but he sounds bullish about the Jets' defense looking ahead to the 2015 season. He was the anchor of the defense when the team appeared in back-to-back AFC Championship Games in 2009 and 2010.

"The sky's the limit," Revis said. "We can even be better. We can even be better than those teams -- and not taking away anything from those teams a couple years ago. Right now it's [time] for us to build a foundation."

As for playing against the Patriots -- with whom he just visited the White House -- in 2015, Revis said that won't be a problem.

"A rivalry is a rivalry," Revis said. "I've got a lot of respect for those guys -- always did, even before I played with them. [But] a rivalry's a rivalry."