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New Jersey – The Antonio Cromartie contract numbers were a little vague when they came out on March 12. It was reported that he received a four-year contract for $32 million.
Ironically, that is the same exact parameters of his last contract with the Jets.
But the burning question, over the last few days, has been – “HOW MUCH IS GUARANTEED?”
The years and total money of an NFL contract can be window-dressing.
The only money that really matters is the guaranteed coin.
So what did Cromartie get in guaranteed money?
It’s been a week after the initial stories about him agreeing to terms, and nobody seems to know.
Well something has finally come out.
According to Sportrac, a website that breaks down player contracts, Cromartie got $20 million in guaranteed money.
I’m trying to verify this number, but as of the posting of this article, I have not been able to.
If Sportrac is correct, this doesn’t seem like a great deal.
Why would you give a 31-year-old cornerback, who isn’t good at press coverage or tackling, that kind of money?
And let us not forget the last time we say him, he was also drawing too many penalites. He was pretty “grabbing” in his coverage. A lot of jersey pulling.
On the positive side, he’s a pretty good cover guy.
This website generally does a very good job of compiling this information. A lot of their data comes from the NFLPA.
If that number is correct, it’s not a great contract from a Jets perspective.
For his sake, I hope he got that. We all know he’s had some financial issues in the past. I’m not begrudging him the money. All the power to him.
Something to keep an eye on with the Jets are the quality of the contracts, now and moving forward.
You can make a strong argument the Jets overpaid Revis. It’s quite possible they were bidding against themselves. We pointed that out the other day. New England bowed out on Sunday, but pretended to still have interest on Monday and Tuesday.
31-year-old linebacker David Harris got a three-year deal for $21 million with $15 million guaranteed. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell rated this as one of the 10 worst free agent contracts this off-season. We will see over the next two years if he is right.
I know John Idzik isn’t popular in the Jets Nation right now, but he’s a good contract negotiator. When he was with the Jets, he negotiated very tight, pragmatic contracts.
The Chris Ivory contract is a perfect example. He got a three-year deal for $6 million with a $2.25 million signing bonus.
That’s a good contract from a Jets-standpoint.
Is paying a nickel back, Buster Skrine, $25 million over four years, with $13 million guaranteed, a little over the top? Time will tell.
We will see over the next few days if the Spotrac report on the Cromartie contract is accurate. I was shocked when I read this.
It’s great to have cap space to improve your team.
But be careful with the contracts. Contract largesse can come back to bite a team down the road.
March 17, 2015
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The Chris Ivory contract is a perfect example. He got a three-year deal for $6 million with a $2.25 million signing bonus.
