Antonio Cromartie open to restructuring

[SixFeetDeep]

Well IF he has to have hip surgery, I would imagine that the injury has a significant role to play in it. Its certainly possible hes had some drop off as well, but you dont go from a top 10 corner, to almost the worst in the league overnight, especially when youre on the same team/system youve been in the last few years.

Wouldnt a hip injury effect a corner worse than probably any position in the league ? Especially a man coverage corner

I agree that it was likely due to the injury.  Point was it's a miracle our pass D wasn't somehow worse starting a rookie and a cripple at CB.

[AlioTheFool]

If they could restructure his deal down where it reduced his cap hit to lower than it would be with a cut-and-re-sign, I'd rather they did that. I don't mind giving Cro, say, 4 years $20M. His health was a factor in his play this year, and given the increasingly better play from Milliner, Cromartie would likely be the #2 corner next year where he'd be a far better match for his assignment.

Let's not get crazy with moving on from players. We let Landry and Bell walk and we got significantly worse at the safety position. If you can keep talent in-house, you should if it's at a reasonable rate.

That said, if Rex is gone, maybe it's not even a conversation. Who knows how Cromartie would play under a different scheme or if he'd even be welcome here.

[bojanglesman]

I think we are all jumping the gun on Cro being any kind of long term investment and Milliner being ready to be the top guy after a couple of good games. 

Whether its his hip or not, Cro deserves to get a big time salary demotion.  Not saying we shouldn't resign him, but anything like a 4 year commitment is retarded.  There's no way to predict much of anything with several of our players until Rex is shown the door or not.

I think Milliner has a bright future, but he isn't a number one guy yet.  I would be interested to see how a full preseason benefits him next year.

[ons]

You think no one else would sign him? He's not quite as decrepit as Pace looked after last year.

Coming off hip surgery? Wouldn't count on anything.

[hawk]

As been said earlier, the best thing is to cut Cro and bring him back, if he's in our plans moving forward (I doubt it). 

However....

The question at hand should be what can we get an Alterraun Verner or Sam Shields for.  If we were willing to give Cro $4 million or $5 million how much more will Verner or Shields go for.  In actuality, the organization will probably structure either contract for Verner or Shields to have a respectively low first year with the cap hit ($5.5 million) in dead money from Cro. 

What if we could get either for 5 year $40 million with $10 million signing bonus and a total of $18 Million guaranteed? 
2014: $2 million dollar salary
2015: $4 million salary
2016: $6 million salary
2017: $8 million salary
2018: $10 million salary

Probably a moot point as they are probably both Franchise Tag candidates.

[AlioTheFool]

I would restructure Cromartie. Over the past few weeks he's steadily improved. He seemed to be learning to play with the pain and work around it. That's a plus to me. It means he's willing to put in the effort (unlike a guy like Holmes). If he can get the surgery, get healthy, and come into camp at full strength, I think he'd be a great return (if they can restructure to reduce some of the cap hit).

Milliner has legit ability and progressed all season long. The way I see it playing out, Milliner will be the primary corner next year and Cromartie will be allowed to play shutdown on the #2s (where he excelled opposite Revis). We've already seen the start of exactly this over the past two weeks. I don't think that's any accident.

[CatoTheElder]

Cro still looked like excrement yesterday but that hip injury could be a part of it. If he can restructure to a more team friendly deal then I wouldn't mind him coming back.

I want Milliner to compete for the #1 CB role next season, though. If Cro's drop off is talent then I do not want Rex handing another veteran a starting job out of loyalty over merit.

[dcm1602]

Cro still looked like excrement yesterday but that hip injury could be a part of it. If he can restructure to a more team friendly deal then I wouldn't mind him coming back.

I want Milliner to compete for the #1 CB role next season, though. If Cro's drop off is talent then I do not want Rex handing another veteran a starting job out of loyalty over merit.

Who was Cro even covering ?

Milliner was pretty much on Wallace all day, and  we knocked that other guy out for the game

[CatoTheElder]

Who was Cro even covering ?

Milliner was pretty much on Wallace all day, and  we knocked that other guy out for the game

The few times I saw him, he was about 10 yards off of the receiver for most of the time.

It looked like the Dolphins' game plan was to target Milliner which was successful in different spots and a big mistake in others.

[bojanglesman]

I would be fine if Cro stayed or left.  I still don't think Milliner is ready to be a number 1 but Cro isn't anymore either.  If Cro stays, I think we may see he and Milliner cover the guys that fits their skill set best, whether it's the number one or not.  I'd love to see Milliner be the number one.  The opinion of the 2013 draft would change significantly.

[MBGreen]

I would be fine if Cro stayed or left.  I still don't think Milliner is ready to be a number 1 but Cro isn't anymore either.  If Cro stays, I think we may see he and Milliner cover he guys that fits their skill set best, whether it's the number one or not.  I'd love to see Milliner be the number one.  The opinion of the 2013 draft would change significantly.

A full offseason should do wonders for Milliner.  I'm expecting him to take a giant leap forward in 2014, especially now that Rex will be around.


I'm all for a return of a "healthy" Cromartie.

[Miamipuck]

Cro has a bad hip. I don't know if it's permanent or just an injury that needs surgery or time to heal but there's no doubt he was injured. I think he has something similar to Ray Rice. He lost his recovery speed, a big part of his game. The extent of the injury will certainly cause me to hold off my opinion on the what the Jets should do. If it's a fixable problem then restructure as Cro can be damn good. If it's permanent, not a correctable type of injury with his hip, let Jacksonville sign him.

[CatoTheElder]

I would be fine if Cro stayed or left.  I still don't think Milliner is ready to be a number 1 but Cro isn't anymore either.  If Cro stays, I think we may see he and Milliner cover the guys that fits their skill set best, whether it's the number one or not.  I'd love to see Milliner be the number one.  The opinion of the 2013 draft would change significantly.

We'll see what the offseason does to Milliner. Actually being there for the mini-camps and all of training camp could push him even further. The fact that he'll be able to work out in the offseason with and against professional players - or even at all - would really help him advance.

[bojanglesman]

Along the same lines, I'd like to see Wilson kept around too.  He didn't live up to a first round pick but he really shouldn't have been a first round pick as a slot corner.  He can be replaced though.  I won't miss the finger wag but Milliner seems to have it down pat.

[bojanglesman]

Cro has a bad hip. I don't know if it's permanent or just an injury that needs surgery or time to heal but there's no doubt he was injured. I think he has something similar to Ray Rice. He lost his recovery speed, a big part of his game. The extent of the injury will certainly cause me to hold off my opinion on the what the Jets should do. If it's a fixable problem then restructure as Cro can be damn good. If it's permanent, not a correctable type of injury with his hip, let Jacksonville sign him.

. Certainly the hip could have played a role in his decline.  That and the scheme having him 900 yards off the line.  That may have been to cover for his hip injury too.