Cromartie was injured and the Jets CS wanted him to continue playing, which he was a good soldier about, and did. For all his critics know he may have hurt his prospects for coming back more healthy. Just saying. Yet there is in and of itself nothing I know about that means his injury last year was the kind that would mean permanent impairment going forward. Should that be a concern? Yes. Was permanent damage a given? No. If he had stayed with the Jets, was it appropriate to renegotiate his contract in light of his overall situation? Arguably yes. Did the Jets even try to do that? No. Meanwhile the Arizona Cardinals, imo a well run organization, signed him to be their starting Cb at $3mil a year, coincidentally the same amount the Jets signed Patterson for. Was there a good reason to think the Jets would get more value from Patterson than if they had kept Cromartie at that price? Hard to say with certainty, but I think the answer is no. Sure Cromartie might in fact be more or less permanently affected by his injury from last year, and what it means about his condition. But Patterson only played 8 games in the last three years, so I dont see how one could reasonably conclude Patterson was the better person to sign than keeping Cromartie. A material consideration is WHEN Patterson was signed, which was after Cromartie was already signed by the Cards, and all the high profile Cbs in FA were already gone. THAT is why they signed Patterson, not because they thought he would be a better Cb at the same price than Cromartie.
Nope but like I said, I'm glad Cromartie is gone. Didn't fit the mantra Idzik is pushing. We needed younger guys to step up and be the future of this franchise.
Cromartie signed a $3.5 million contract. $3.25 million of it guaranteed. Dimitri Patterson signed for $1 million. In this instance, Idzik signed a guy around the same age, but that was significantly cheaper. One part of his mantra. As for younger guys? Yeah, having the money free and not tied up in a 30 year old Cromartie, allowed us to sign younger cheaper guys across the board.
the one mil was guaranteed. "Patterson signed a one-year, $3 million deal, according to league source." http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/10711778/new-york-jets-sign-cornerback-dimitri-patterson "Hi, Falco!" Dude hardly played in pre-season and got paid $1mil. Just stop with the FO homer nonsense and admit the Patterson signing had nothing to do with getting better value and going younger.
We'll see where Cromartie is with his bad hip when the season begins. The Patterson signing didn't work out very well I agree. We'll have to move on and see what happens. All I know is I am excited to see Walls starting on the outside. He's got a chance to really prove himself this yr.
Good point, to which I'd hasten to add that Demario Davis has supposedly been looking, much, MUCH better and more comfortable dropping into coverage in TC and practices this season. That should help the pass D as well, as should the addition of Babin.
As for Cro, we know he is starting for Arizona. I am not predicting his performance, but it does seem that so far he's shown enough in camp to start on a team that has a reasonable chance of contending for a playoff spot. As for the quoted part on Walls, that is what I am afraid of.
Did anyone else see this: http://www.jetsconfidential.com/news/antonio-cromartie-angle-is-revisionist-history/ The Jets are getting second-guessed by some for not re-signing Antonio Cromartie, in light of their current rash of injuries at cornerback. What about his aversion to playing press coverage, an integral part of Rex Ryan’s defense? “Cro had a tendency to drift back before the snap instead of crowding the line,” wrote author Nick Dawidoff, who was embedded with the Jets in 2011, and authored the book, “Collision Low Crossers.” What about his aversion to being physical as a tackler? “Cro’s like an NBA player who hates to play defense,” said former Jets linebacker coach Bob Sutton, in “Collision Low Crossers.” After Cromartie ducked a tackle, one Jets coach cracked, “He already made his one for the day.” This quote was also in “Collision Low Crossers.” What about his constant jersey-grabbing that led to a myriad of pass interference penalties? What about his inability to deal with criticism from coaches? “Cro so detested criticism that he shut down in response to it,” wrote Dawidoff. “Cro can’t take authority,” Darrelle Revis told Dawidoff in the book. It was time for the Jets to move on. And Cromartie probably needed a change of scenery as well.
Thanks for posting this. Hopefully, that will shut the guys up who have been yammering that we should have kept Cro. I say good riddance to him.
I seem to recall Cro having a hip problem last year or the year before---in camp. It is just conjecture for me, but the Jets may know more about it. Also, Cromartie is going to get about 15 hands penalties this year-if he plays. If the Jets thought he would be decent, I think they would have brought him back for a year. They just did not.
Is it better than last year? Barely, but that is because of Pryor. I wasn't a fan of Cro, and liked the McDougle and Pryor picks, but we put a lot of faith into Milliner's ability to anchor the CBs. Signing a flake like Patterson hurts, as does McDougle's blown knee and Milliner's balky ankle. We took a big risk cutting Cro and not going after bigger named CBs in FA, and now we are getting burned. There's just not a lot of help out there so we are forced to go with what we have (Milliner, Pryor, and a bunch of dudes off the street), and rely upon schemes to mask our deficiencies. Smells a lot like last year.
Rex has been in Brady's head for years now. That doesn't mean that Rex can beat him with a low talent team but Brady hates playing against the Jets defense most of the time. Last year the Jets beat the Pats and the Saints because Rex's pressure defense got to both Brady and Brees and they eventually surrendered. Their teammates followed the boss. They almost beat Brady twice.
There are ways to cover up deficiencies at the CB position. It's called having a pass-rush w/out blitzing.
The thing is that Idizk DID go after at least two bigger named FAs. He went after Vontae Davis of the Colts. I saw articles that intimated that the Jets thought they had a deal worked out with him, then the Colts suddenly offered a whole lot more. I think they may have brought 1-2 more in for work outs and meetings before DRC arrived. They tried to sign DRC, but the Giants jumped in an outbid the Jets. So Idzik did go after some bigger named FA CBs, he just wasn't willing to pay them what other teams were. Maybe he was too conservative and should have offered more money, but I think that both Davis and DRC got way too much money, far more than they're worth.
Not Trippin about the secondary.. Once pryor pops somebody teams will think twice about placing the ball anywhere near that animal. Then Milliner will be back and well improved since a year ago, and my guy Darrin Walls gets is opportunity to make a name for himself (and redeem his Marvin Jones performance he and Dee split). Also AA gets his spot back that was wrongfully taken by Dead Reed.
