Jets Acquire Antonio Cromartie From Chargers

So if you can't beat 'em, join 'em as they always say.

A month and a half after the Jets beat the Chargers in the AFC Divisional playoffs 17-14, the two teams made one of the first big splashes of the free agency period, when the Chargers sent cornerback Antonio Cromartie to the Jets for a conditional third or second round pick in 2011.

There had been a lot of rumors of the past six weeks that the Jets would look to acquire Namde Asomugha from the Raiders. Asomugha is widely considered one of the best corners in the NFL, in spite of the fact that his statistics have dropped off over the last three seasons.

Instead the Jets swung the deal with San Diego to acquire Cromartie. Cromartie stands at 6'2" and has developed the reputation as a ball hawking corner. He had 10 interceptions in 2007, 2 interceptions in 2008 and 3 interceptions in 2009. Unlike Asomugha, Cromartie is still making plays.

The one knock on Cromartie is his attitude. Many people in San Diego believed that he was a lazy player who doesn't like to hit people. Cromartie is in his contract year, and if he wants to get paid in 2011, he is going to have to change his attitude and starting playing with reckless abandon.

Rex Ryan won't tolerate anyone taking plays off on defense, and they will need a guy with Cromartie's athleticism to make it hard for opposing quarterbacks to throw to intended receivers, because nobody will want to throw in the direction of Darrell Revis.

This is a good trade, and it will be interesting to see how it pays off.