http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/35155/cro-wont-need-surgery-expects-to-rebound NEW YORK -- Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie will not undergo surgery on his hip, and barring any setbacks, he expects to be among the game's elite corners once again. Said Cromartie: "I will be better than I was in 2012." Cromartie, speaking at Jets House in Manhattan on Thursday, said he saw a hip specialist about two to three weeks ago and it was determined he would not need surgery. The 29-year-old fractured his hip in 2008 with San Diego, and it was problematic throughout this past season, even forcing him to leave a Nov. 24 loss to Baltimore. Cromartie described his injury as a hip flexor strain, and said there is nothing wrong with the hip joint. While he made the Pro Bowl, the hip injury contributed to a down year for Cromartie. "It was rough just from the standpoint [of] dealing with my hip flexor injury and trying to figure out what we got to try to do," Cromartie said about his up-and-down 2013 season. "I think it was frustrating for me just because I wasn't able to play at a level I needed to play at." The veteran said he's been rehabbing for about three weeks, and he expects to be 100 percent by the end of February. His rehab focuses on flexibility and strengthening the area around the hip. "I feel good," Cromartie said. "First time since about the second week of the preseason that I feel close to 100 percent." As Cromartie rehabs for the upcoming season, he's still unsure which team he will be playing for. While he's still under contract with the Jets, his $14.98 million cap hit combined with his age and declining play in 2013 could make the Jets blink. Cromartie said recently that he expects the Jets will cut him. The Jets are thin at cornerback, although 2013 first-round pick Dee Milliner finished strong. "I think I [will be cut]," Cromartie told "Pro Football Talk" on NBC Sports Network earlier this month. "Just because my cap number is very high. And I had one of the worst seasons of my career this past year. I was banged up. I got hurt in Week 2, but that's not an excuse." Cromartie, who just completed his fourth season with the Jets, said he has not talked with the team about his contract, and he will leave that up to his agents. His focus is on getting back to full strength. "I want to be back. At the end of the day it's a business, and that's how I treat it," Cromartie said. "My business is to make sure my body is as healthy as possible, because I got to make sure that if anything goes wrong, that if it goes the opposite way [and] I'm not here, I'm healthy for the next team."
Time to trade this guy. P.S. Maybe that's too harsh - but his 15M price tag is outrageous still. I'd welcome him with open arms if he's cut then returns for vet min.
He manned up and gave it his best. He didn't bitch out like most stars do, and for all things considered despite being hurt he played pretty decent.
Would have rather had Wall in there than a banged up Cromartie who got beat on the deep ball every single game.
Walls is not that good, and even so he did substitute for Milliner several times, so he couldn't have played both Cb positions at the same time. Cro got beat too often, but a deep ball every single game? I think that is an exaggeration. I would love to see Cro back. Without him the secondary has the potential to be even worse than it was last year. He wants to be here, has been a great veteran presence, working with the younger players. He will be better next year healthwise. If they can get him back at a lower number, they need to do that.
"You're a fool." (You are = You're) "And your fool is behaving poorly." Anyway - it's impossible to know that. Could've been worse, could've been better. If eg. Walls had to replace him, gotten some serious playing time and NFL experience, who knows what strides he could've made. Or maybe Cro could've sat out for 5 games and come back 100% healthy for the remaining games. First off, he barely played decent. In terms of points allowed on the board because of Cro alone, he had pretty much as rough a year as Milliner had. Secondly, of course I understand that an NFL player is basically playing for his life and more or less has to be selfish in order to not fall out of the league, or lose his starting spot. So me calling him a dolt for playing when physically hindered, won't change anything. It's just sad to see players placing themselves in front of the team, when the team might've been better off had they stepped down. But no, it's "better" to act all Iron Man about it and limp through it... It's equally sad that Rex and the FO had to know about this early, and still gambled on playing him, when we've heard more than a number of times Rex preaching that a non-100% healthy player won't play. Guess that only goes for pedestrian players, not "pro bowlers"...
He'll be rebounding on another team if he doesn't take a pay cut. That said I feel we should bring him back. Cro definitely got burned what seemed like once a game but he was our team MVP in 2012 and there's no reason he can't come back strong next season. I like our secondary better and playoff chances with Cro more than I like them without him.
