Maybe that's harsh. But he's really not that good. Had that one fluke season. Sure he has decent ball skills, and usually makes things happen once the ball in his hands. But he gets consistently beat and makes Sean Smith look like Ray Lewis as far as tackling and physicality goes... I don't like corners who get consistently beat. I'll take dropped picks over bad coverage all day everyday.
As would I. With Cromartie, his entire problem is in his head. He's one of the most physically gifted corners in the game, but he only gets up for top competition and his concentration and effort are all over the place. You can't count on him.
It's funny because in some superficial ways, Cromartie and Smith are actually a lot alike. Both are tall for a corner. Cromartie is 6'2 and Smith is 6034 (or 6 foot 3 and a third inches). Both have long arms. Cromartie's are 33 inches and Smith's are a freakish 34 and 5/8th inches (that's a good arm length for an
offensive lineman). Both left school early. Both have good speed (I use nfldraftscout for all my timed numbers, btw), especially when you factor in their size (Cromartie -- 4.47 -- is better maintaining his top speed but Smith -- 4.50 -- is actually quicker off the line). Cromartie is the superior all around athlete, though. He bested Smith is most of the agility and explosion drills outside of the three cone drill. Neither are particularly good tacklers. Both have shown good ball skills (though I have to give the edge to Cromartie given what happened with Smith last season).
The difference is the mentality. Smith has said in various interviews that he came into the league as a ****y and immature kid. A guy who always started wherever he went, who knew he was talented and therefore knew he could get away with things. It took him getting benched to start taking things more seriously -- to feel the pain of the team having success without him -- and that really changed everything for him. Some guys don't react well to getting benched (see: Young, Vince), but Smith did. He decided he willing to do whatever it took to get back on the field and now his mind is in the right place. Which is scary, given his ability.
Cromartie had a lot of the same issues coming into the league... but the difference is he still has them. He's still immature. I'm sure people have sat him down and tried to get through to him, but whatever they've said it hasn't taken. He'll always get by because he's so gifted but in retrospect I bet the Jets wished they had tried to sign Jonathan Joseph instead of going after Nnamdi. Dealing with Cromartie has got to be a pain in the *** and as we know from dealing with Ted Ginn, when a guy on your team consistently shies away from contact it can have a poisonous effect on the rest of the team.
Now in Cromartie's defense, he's just not very bright. Never has been. Never will be (I believe he scored a 12 on the Wonderlic). Whereas Smith really is -- it's plain from just listening to him. He's so smart it's sometimes almost to his detriment in that he'll sort of psyche himself out. But there's no doubt to me which is the superior player right now and going forward.
Cromartie, in my view, is on the way to being another DeAngelo Hall -- a highlight reel player who nonetheless gets you beat with his stupidity and inconsistency.
