Tom Pelissero

USA TODAY Sports

Apparently, Darrelle Revis was out of work for all of about four hours.

Cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday afternoon, Revis had agreed to terms by the evening on a one-year, $12 million contract with the New England Patriots, ESPN reported.

Revis' business manager, John Geiger, posted on Twitter that "nothing has been agreed to with Revis and the Patriots."

If it does get done, though, the deal would put Revis, 28, back into the AFC East Division, where his Pro Bowl career began with the New York Jets.

The Patriots needed cornerback help after losing Aqib Talib to a mega-contract with the Denver Broncos on Tuesday, and Revis remains one of the best — even after knee reconstruction surgery that ended his 2012 season.

The Bucs acquired him in a trade last April from the Jets for a pair of draft picks.

But the new regime of coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jason Licht decided his $16 million a year salary was too much to pay a cornerback, even one as good as Revis.

"Anybody can play on our football team, in our scheme, if they have talent, and that's what we have right now," Smith told news reporters.

"And as far as the money — yeah, there's only a certain amount — and as you look what we were able to get: three very good football players, almost for the price of one."

The Bucs signed free agent cornerback Alterraun Verner, as well as defensive linemen Michael Johnson and Clinton McDonald, to contracts Tuesday.

Verner, a Pro Bowl selection himself last season, got $14 million in guarantees on a four-year, $25.5 million contract.

The combined salary cap charge for Johnson, Verner and McDonald this year will be $20.5 million, just $4.5 million more than Revis would have counted on his own.

"Bittersweet? I don't really want to classify it as that," Licht said of cutting Revis. "It was a tough decision. He's a good player, a very good player — we've said from the beginning. But we've been able to add four, five very good players as well."

Four NFL cornerbacks had contracts averaging $10 million or more last season. Three of them — Revis, Champ Bailey and Cortland Finnegan — have been cut in the past week.

The Bucs also signed tight end Brandon Myers and veteran quarterback Josh McCown, who enters as the favorite to beat out Mike Glennon for the starting job.

A team coming off a tumultuous 4-12 season marked by an infectious disease outbreak in the locker room and an ugly divorce from quarterback Josh Freeman is bent on a fast turnaround, no matter how parting with one of the game's best players might make it appear.

"I definitely would say that we're not trying to build anything slowly," Smith said. "It's not about rebuilding or anything like that."

The Patriots certainly aren't rebuilding, coming off their second consecutive loss in the AFC Championship Game.

Now, if the deal comes to fruition, they'd have a five-time Pro Bowl pick on their side — and one who knows the division inside and out.

At $12 million, Revis would cost the Patriots barely more than the $11.834 million it would have cost to keep Talib for one year on the franchise tag.