Inside Darrelle Revis' playbook
"There are a lot of great physical athletes that play cornerback in the NFL," 60 Minutes correspondent Armen Keteyian tells Overtime editor Ann Silvio in the video above. "There are very, very few that think like Darrelle Revis."
60 Minutes profiles Revis on this week's broadcast, at one point using a slow-motion camera to show viewers what makes the cornerback so unique. Paired against a wide receiver, he seems to anticipate and shadow every move.
"If you slow it down, it looks like martial arts," explains producer Alan Goldberg. "It looks like judo."
That level of concentration takes work, and Revis shows 60 Minutes some of his preparation. Rather than vacation in the off-season, for instance, he attends an exclusive boot camp in Phoenix, Arizona known as Shutdown U.
Coach Will Sullivan helps give Revis an extra edge by breaking down each play into its smallest details. "It's a high-level chess match," Sullivan explains. "For me, what I'm trying to do is raise up young Bobby Fischers."
Off the field, Revis hones his mental game by playing chess and visiting art museums. "It provides a certain quiet and tranquility that is a real counterpoint to the violent and chaotic world of football," Goldberg says.
The museums are also a different world from the one where Revis grew up, a poor community in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, where his crowded home overlooked a football stadium.
"I told my mom when I was 14 that I'm going to change her life," he tells 60 Minutes. And he certainly has. In nine seasons, he's had five contracts with three teams, amassing $100 million dollars and counting.
At one point, Keteyian tests Revis by trying to push past him on a practice field. The cornerback stops him with one hand.
"What's it like to be shut down by Darrelle Revis?" Silvio asks.
"Humbling," Keteyian replies. "Didn't take long to figure out that I wasn't going anywhere."
The video above was produced by Will Croxton and Ann Silvio.