The New York Jets and general manager John Idzik likely regret cutting cornerback Antonio Cromartie in the offseason. With injuries and a lack of talent at the position, the Jets are weak in perhaps the most important aspect of the defense in today's NFL.
On Sunday at Jets training camp, the team's secondary took a couple of significant losses. New York's rookie cornerback Dexter McDougle tore his ACL in 1-on-1 drills and will miss the entire season. Later in the day, second year cornerback Dee Milliner suffered a high ankle sprain and is expected to miss at least a few weeks. The team now has 31-year-old Dimitri Patterson (who is also dealing with nagging injuries) and former first round draft pick Kyle Wilson as the starting corners. Who's behind them? Darrin Walls and Ellis Lankster.
General manager John Idzik released cornerback Antonio Cromartie in the offseason in an attempt to save money, but his logic is seemingly bizarre. Cromartie went on to sign a one-year, $3.5 million deal with Arizona and the Jets are sitting $20-plus million under the salary cap. Where is Idzik looking to spend the money? Of course, signing players to long-term, salary cap destructive deals is a bad decision, but going into the season with Patterson and Milliner as your starting corners is a death trap. The NFL has morphed into a pass-first league and the Jets are ill-prepared going into the season. At this point in August it's going to be hard to find a contributor at such an important position.
"The depth at the position is laughable," writes Brian Costello, in this New York Post article. "It's so bad they had to move safety Antonio Allen to cornerback when the recent injuries occurred. Allen was a college linebacker who has shown he can cover tight ends in his first two years. Now, they're asking him to cover receivers."
In Cleveland, Browns coach Mike Pettine is hopeful the team will decide on a starting quarterback on Tuesday - following Monday night's game against the Washington Redskins. Brian Hoyer will start the game, but Johnny Manziel received first team snaps in Friday's practice. As promised, Pettine expects to announce the starting quarterback before the team's third preseason game.
"He [Manziel] just needs to go out and play," said Pettine, in this ESPN article. "That's the bottom line. They both do. I've met with both and discussed the situation and they're both comfortable and they both know that it's going to be up to them when they're out there to just go out there and do their job. You never want a guy trying to do too much and come out of structure to try to accomplish something. ... Do your job and good things will happen."
