Antonio Cromartie came to the Jets in 2010 with a reputation of a player who was overrated and in decline on the field as well as a being a wild, party animal off of it. In three short years, he has not only regained his form on the field but has stabilized himself off the field becoming a leader who is tasked with replacing a legend.

In 2010, when the Jets traded a conditional 3rd round pick to the San Diego Chargers for cornerback Antonio Cromartie the move was questioned on a number of levels. First, Cromartie’s play in San Diego had seemed to steadily decline from his apex in 2007 when he recorded 10 interceptions. Most questioned his technique in off man coverage and zone, while his concentration lapses & a lack of awareness of the play around him were also concerns. Second, off the field he was a punchline for having 7 children by 6 women in 5 states. His segment on Hard Knocks where he appeared to struggle to remember the names of all of his children evidenced that. There was no doubt he could play but could he regain Pro Bowl form especially in a city surrounded by temptation.

In his first season with the Jets he was wildly inconsistent breaking up 17 passes, intercepting 3 but allowing 7 touchdowns. That had to do with the adjustment to Rex Ryan’s complex defense coupled with the fact that opposing quarterbacks did not throw at All-Pro Darrelle Revis who lined up opposite Cromartie in the defensive backfield. The following season in 2011 Cromartie improved. He allowed the 8th best completion percentage in the league at 46.4%, the 5th best yards per attempt allowed on short throws at 3 which was better than even Revis and was 15th in overall yards per attempt allowed with 6 to go with his 4 interceptions. He still had more than his share of mental lapses allowing 6 touchdowns and getting called for more than his share of penalties. In 2012, Cromartie returned to Pro Bowl form allowing a catch rate of 46% which was lowest among every down corners. He only gave up 511 yards all year in his coverage while limiting opposing receivers to a first down or touchdown on just 4.36% of plays good for 8th in the league. All this with having to take over Darrelle Revis’ role after the star corner was lost to the year with an ACL injury.

Off the field we have seen a completely different person than we were led to believe existed. Cromartie has looked at his time with the Jets as a second chance. The Jets fronted him $50,000 from his salary after the trade to satisfy his child support debts. The same year he married Terricka Cason who has been a stabilizing force helping Antonio settle down and become a family man. Gone are the negative headlines and jokes replaced now by interviews with thoughtful, intelligent responses from someone who has matured as a leader. Here is a quote from a May 16 ESPNNewYork.com article by Kieran Darcy on his role after the Revis trade ”You just gotta move forward. You can’t pout about it,” Cromartie said. “It’s a business. I think my job here is just to make sure, for one, that I’m ready to go out and play and make sure that the younger guys are ready to come out and play. That’s the kind of role I’m trying to take on, and make sure guys are doing what they’re supposed to do.” Cromartie has worked with Kyle Wilson this offseason and has watched tape of Dee Milliner so he can better understand and help improve the rookie’s game.

The Jets are getting the very best of Antonio Cromartie at the most opportune time. The team needs him to step up and fill the void left by Darrelle Revis and now more than ever it looks like Cromartie is equal to the task. As we have seen Antonio grow each year with the Jets it is safe to say that best may still be yet to come.

Dec. 30, 2012; Orchard Park, NY, USA; New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie (31) against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

No matter what you can say about this Jets team, you can say this, there is a new sheriff in town and his name is John Idzik.

Earlier today, we reported that Santonio Holmes agreed to restructure his contract to save money against the cap.  It turns out that his savings will amount to approximately $3.5 million.

Now, we have one more restructure to report for you tonight.

Reports have surfaced that cornerback Antonio Cromartie has agreed to restructure his deal.  The media guys like Manish Mehta are reporting the move tonight, which ultimately isn’t a major sacrifice to Antonio, as he will be moving his signing bonus around to spread it out.  The savings, however, appears to be around $4.2 millions against the current cap number.

So, look at what John Idzik was able to do day one.  No, he wasn’t able to sign anyone today, or re-sign as the case may be.  But he WAS able to clean up some of Mike Tannenbaum’s mess, by taking two outspoken Jets roster members, and convincing them to re-work their contracts to help the team.

Good job sir.

Dec. 30, 2012; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills running back C.J. Spiller (28) runs the ball while being defended by New York Jets free safety LaRon Landry (30) during the first half at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

Nov. 22, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie (31) reads a playbook against the New England Patriots during the second half on Thanksgiving at Metlife Stadium. Patriots won 49-19. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

In an otherwise forgettable season of 2012, the Jets had a big bright spot on the field, the pass defense. We all know the story, Revis goes down, Cromartie steps up and has a huge season as the number one corner on the team. Overall, the Jets finished second in the league in pass defense, a solid achievement in a 6-10 season.

But how good were they? Our friends at Pro Football Focus, are always coming up with unique statistics that go beyond the obvious to show us how good a player really is. And this week, they have not failed in that mission.

PFF does a great job at figuring out how players perform based on the amount of snaps they are involved in. In this case, they have come up with a percentage of TDs and first downs allowed based on snaps in coverage. In this, we are going to focus on our two Pro Bowlers, Antonio Cromartie and LaRon Landry.

Both of our Pro Bowlers were in the top 10 in this unique category. First look at Cromartie:

RANK: 8TH, SNAPS: 527, 1ST DOWN AND TD%: 4.36% He finished not even a full percentage behind the top player in this category, Chris Culliver (3.45%), and he played in more snaps than Culliver (493).

What about LaRon Landry? How did be fare in 2012? He was right in the middle of the pack:

SNAPS: 488, 1ST DOWN AND TD%: 4.1% This was near the middle of the pack, as far as safeties go, but it actually was better than Cromartie’s mark of 4.36%. He also saw more snaps than safeties such as Danny McCray and Atari Bigby, who both had percentages over 6%. Not a bad job by our two Pro Bowl players, huh?

One more thing, believe it or not, we had a linebacker that made the list in this category.  You know how slow our LB corp was, right?  Well one of our linebackers was number 10 in this stat with a percentage of 3.61 in 415 snaps.  Who was it?  Look below:

Dec 30, 2012; Orchard Park, NY, USA; New York Jets inside linebacker David Harris (52) during the game against the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Bills beat the Jets 28-9. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

David Harris was the one….interesting…at least one wasn’t so slow, huh?