Cromartie Traded To Jets For A Third-Round Pick

NFL News - March 5th, 2010 - Written by John Ritter

Some may say Antonio Cromartie was a big part of the New York Jets' upset of the San Diego Chargers in the divisional playoffs.

And apparently some in the organization want that help again.Setting up a potentially electric secondary, New York agreed in principal to acquire Cromartie Thursday night, in exchange for a third-round draft pick in 2011.

Cromartie is a former Pro Bowler and made the 2007 All-Pro team with a league-high 10 interceptions. He will take over for Lito Sheppard, who was let go the same day.

But that potential has been off-set by pedestrian performance recently.

Despite an impressive start to his career, Cromartie struggled to adapt as San Diego's premier corners. He was easily beaten on several occasions last season, and left an unsavory taste in the team's mouth when he failed to make simple tackles. In the aforementioned playoff game, highlights have been made to show Cromartie's poor effort during Shonn Greene's touchdown run that ended up being the difference. Cromartie was face-up with Greene at the line of scrimmage, but didn't even get his hands up.

Later in the game, the Jets went for it on fourth down to ice it, and Cromartie appeared in position to stuff the play but failed to make the tackle. The corner finished with only 33 tackles, his lowest total since his rookie season.

A first-round pick in 2006, Cromartie has also found himself in the courtroom over five paternity suits. He has seven different children with seven different women, and was blamed for hitting a bar employee with a champagne bottle last year. ProFootballTalk reported Friday that Cromartie failed to appear in court on two occasions to pay almost $800 in traffic fines, and will meet with a paternity mediator to settle one of the child support suits.

But New York saw enough potential in the past to take a gamble, and anything above average could create a fearsome tandem in the secondary with Darrelle Revis. Revis was runner-up in last season's Defensive Player of the Year balloting, and is largely considered the top corner in the league.

Cromartie's 10 picks in '07 were a franchise record, and he even further shattered the record with two more in the playoffs as San Diego reached the AFC Championship. It was the furthest it had been since it's '95 Super Bowl run.

He also has the longest play in NFL history when he returned an interception 109 yards against the Minnesota Vikings. He has three career touchdowns.

The 25-year old is on the final year of his deal, and the Jets are not believed to be interested in offering a contract extension.

But for now, they are a 9/1 favorite to win the Super Bowl, according to Bodog, and those NFL Betting odds may improve in the next few days.