Cromartie, Scott Make Headlines

Antonio Cromartie made headlines on Tuesday with comments  he made in an interview with SiriusXM radio. Cromartie, who is one of many players scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent once the lockout is settled, offered the following:

“I would love to be a Jet at the end of day, but I also want to go out and see what the market is, see what the value is.  To me there’s no such thing as a hometown discount; I’m not giving anybody a hometown discount. I’m definitely going to see what the organization says, and then also let them know that I would like to go out and test the market and see what my value is.”

These comments can truly come as no surprise as almost every player is going to try to make as much money as they possibly can.  For the most part loyalty in the National Football League lasts as long as the contract that the player is performing under.

As for the Jets it will be interesting to see how they handle Cromartie in terms of the type of contract offer made during their three day exclusive negotiating window.  Do the Jets give Antonio a “take it or leave it” offer? Or does Gang Green let Cromartie shop himself around with the plan to match the offer made by another team?

My guess is that Cromartie is going to get paid like a #1 defensive back and that price tag is going to be too high for the New York Jets.  The Jets will be forced to look in another direction, which will be either moving second year player Kyle Wilson into the starting spot or signing a veteran free agent.

Bart blasts policy change- As part of the new collective bargaining agreement teams in the NFL can no longer hold two-a-day practices.  This change, which was agreed to by the owners, is being made to help increase player safety.  If a team does hold a second practice, it will be walk-through style (non-contact) without helmets and pads.

As expected this policy change rubbed some of the players the wrong way including New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott.  The intense linebacker offered the following quotes to NJ.com :

“I get concerned you’re making football players weaker because you don’t push them past that threshold.  I get concerned with the same thing with the quarterback stuff, that they turn it into flag football; they turn it into little pansy stuff.”

“Two-a-days, it’s what football is all about. It’s about endurance, pain, will, putting yourself through something when your body is telling you it doesn’t want to go. Your mind controlling your body. That’s what camp is all about. With one-a-days, guys might not be in as good of shape as they would have been. Camp tears you down, and then a smart coach starts pulling back in enough time that allows players’ bodies to build back up.”

I have to agree with Bart on this one, especially this season with the lockout situation and the players behind in terms of conditioning.  If anything this policy change could increase injuries which Scott references as well:

“You’re stealing reps from coaches.  Even if you put those reps into the front of practice, what’s the quality going to be? Eventually that cuts down on the quality of the product, (when) we’re already behind. Now you’re trying to go full-speed running, when you’re absolutely dog tired, and that’s when you get pulls and stuff like that.”

What do you think about Bart’s comments Jets fans? Discuss in the JetNation forums.

Tyson Rauch

See Full Bio