News broke this afternoon that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets had finalized a the long-awaited trade sending Darrelle Revis south. The Jets will receive the Buccaneers 13th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft and a conditional 2014 fourth-round pick that becomes a third-round pick if Revis is on the Buccaneers’ roster on the third day of the 2014 league year. Shortly after the trade broke, the Buccaneers announced that they had signed the elite cornerback to a new six-year deal worth $96 million. In an unprecedented twist, the deal contains no guaranteed money, which means it’s more accurately characterized as six consecutive club options worth $16 million apiece.

So what does the deal mean for the Jets? For the long-term good of the team, it was all but unavoidable. Revis was entering the final year of his contract with the Jets, and he’d made no bones about the fact that he wanted a contract requisite to his status as the preeminent shutdown cornerback. The Jets recently fired general manager Mike Tannenbaum because he’d spent the last few years mortgaging the Jets’ future salary cap to accommodate too many poorly-negotiated contracts. They replaced him with former Seattle Seahawks’ salary cap guru John Idzik, indicating that they hope to leave their irresponsible spending days in the past.

Idzik’s goal will be fielding the most talented team possible while maintaining the healthiest cap situation he can. Committing $16 million a year to any player isn’t the best way to do that. Sometimes front offices need to recognize when it’s time to a take a step back in order to take two steps forward, and it looks like Idzik was willing to bite that bullet. Though it hurts to lose a generational talent like Revis, Jets’ fans should be encouraged that they have a general manager willing to belly up to the table and make tough decisions for the better of the team.

But how does the trade affect the 2013 New York Jets? First of all, they’ll take two top-15 picks into the opening night of the draft (eerily similar to Idzik’s previous front office: the Seahawks’ had the 6th and 13th overall picks in Pete Carroll and John Schneider’s first draft together). With the holes they need to fill, those picks will be incredibly valuable. Prior to the Revis trade, the Jets only had their seven native picks. With an extra top-15 pick, they’ll have several options. They have a shot at both the top safety and top cornerback in the draft, or they can target a top pass rusher or the quarterback of their choice.

However, I’d expect that they’ll be inundated with trade offers for the 13th pick, and they should accept the best offer. The San Francisco 49ers could offer them the 31st and 34th overall picks. The Jets could draft a top-10 player and still essentially have two first-round picks. They lost Revis in the third week of the 2012 season and still fielded a top ten defense. If they add a couple top 50 picks to their defense and focus on bolstering their offense, they’ll be well on their way to a respectable rebuild.

I know a lot of Jets’ fans are ruing today, but if they take a step back and consider the context, they can be encouraged that this is the first in a series of bold, necessary steps to returning their franchise to playoff contention. They have a talented defense. Now they just need to find a quarterback.