Free agent Cardinals cornerback Antonio Cromartie reiterated his interest in returning to the Jets, tweets the New York Post’s Paul Schwartz. On rejoining the Jets, whom he spent the 2010-13 seasons with before they released him last year, Cromartie said, “It would be an easy choice, if the opportunity presented itself,” according to Schwartz. Cromartie racked up 13 interceptions and two Pro Bowl nods during his tenure in New York.
Here’s more on Cromartie and a couple of his fellow NFL corners:
- The 31-year-old Cromartie spent 2014 with the Cardinals, for whom he appeared in all 16 regular-season games, amassed three interceptions and made another Pro Bowl. Cromartie’s defensive coordinator in Arizona was Todd Bowles, whom the Jets hired as their coach last month. Despite being in the midst of a four-year playoff drought and hiring a first-time head coach, Cromartie said, “I don’t think the Jets are rebuilding at all,” according to Schwartz.
- The Browns‘ Justin Gilbert is drawing heat from team owner Jimmy Haslam. “Justin clearly needs to mature,” Haslam told reporters earlier this week, according to the Akron Beacon Journal’s Nate Ulrich. Gilbert, the eighth overall pick in 2014, totaled just 29 tackles and one interception during his rookie year. Despite his less-than-glowing appraisal of Gilbert, Haslam isn’t giving up on the 22-year-old, whom he called a “very gifted athlete.” Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith writes that Gilbert will be in danger of being labeled a bust if he doesn’t mature in his second year.
- Finding a starting job will be the main priority for Packers free agent CB Davon House this offseason, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Tom Silverstein. “I don’t like the role just playing special teams, especially when I know I can contribute,” said House. The 25-year-old went on to acknowledge that, although he’d like to stay with the Packers, he doesn’t think he’ll be one of the team’s main priorities this offseason because Randall Cobb and Bryan Bulaga also need new contracts. “I won’t be back until they all get done. It makes no sense for me to get done before them,” he told Silverstein.