ARIZONA CARDINALS

Arizona Cardinals’ Antonio Cromartie believes he’s one of the two best CBs in the NFL

Jun 20, 2014, 4:11 PM | Updated: 4:11 pm

Follow @VincemarottaPresented By...

One of the NFL’s biggest offseason story lines has been the ongoing war of words and tweets between Patrick Peterson of the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle’s Richard Sherman.

There have been several exchanges between the two, whether they involve contract status, pure statistics, positional semantics or hashtags. I mean who can forget #CoverSpace — that was a classic, Patrick.

Peterson’s new teammate, Antonio Cromartie, joined the set of NFL Total Access on NFL Network Thursday to chime in on the subject of who is the best corner in the league. A giant video board showed the voting results of the network’s poll, with Sherman leading Peterson, New England’s Darrelle Revis and Cleveland’s Joe Haden. Cromartie got out of his chair to check the results, and obviously disagreed with them.

“Where’s my name at,” he asked. “If y’all want to go with just one or two seasons and what everybody’s done, that’s fine and dandy. But go over the longevity of my career and then match it up against all these guys right here.

“Everybody wants to talk about how many picks I got in a season. Well y’all tell me ‘when was the last time somebody had double-digit picks in a season?’ Oh, that’s me.”

Cromartie had 10 interceptions for the San Diego Chargers in 2007 when he earned his first trip to the Pro Bowl and was a First Team All-Pro. In his career, Cromartie has 28 interceptions, which is 10th among active players in the league.

“Right now, to me, it’s me and this guy,” Cromartie said, pointing to Revis’ photo. “You got three young guys that are up and coming, but right now, it’s out of me and this guy, when we’re healthy.

“And when we’re healthy, we know what we can do on that football field and we’ve both shown it in a Rex Ryan defense where there is zero help.”

Cromartie and Revis were teammates with Ryan’s New York Jets from 2010 to 2012 and their pass defense ranked in the top six in the NFL each season.

“I want these guys to be on an island by themselves and play Zero coverage,” Cromartie said. “They haven’t done that yet, they haven’t done nothing that me and Revis have done in a Rex Ryan defense.”

Asked specifically about Sherman, Cromartie agreed with a lot of the criticism the Seahawks’ All-Pro gets for only being asked to play one side of the field.

“When you think about the best corner in the game, you think about guys that are matching up one-on-one as Deion Sanders did, actually Mel Blount did the same thing back in the Steelers days,” Cromartie said. “Can a guy adjust to the defense? What Richard has done, he has done that for his defense.

“But also at the same time, you’ve got two All-Pro safeties in the back.”

Cromartie signed a one-year deal with the Cardinals in March following back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons with the Jets in 2012 and 2013. If he backs up the bravado he displayed during his NFL Network appearance, let’s just say the Cardinals defense will be even tougher to throw on in 2014.

Presented By
Western Governors University

Comments

Comment guidelines: No name-calling, personal attacks, profanity, or insults. Please keep the conversation civil and help us moderate comments by reporting abuse.
comments powered by Disqus

Arizona Cardinals

Desmond Ridder runs the rock against Houston...

Tyler Drake

Desmond Ridder eager to remind fellow Cardinals QB Clayton Tune about college wins

Cardinals quarterback Desmond Ridder may not know Kyler Murray just yet, but he and Clayton Tune go way back.

19 hours ago

LSU's Malik Nabers, a top NFL Draft prospect...

Kevin Zimmerman

NFL Draft: Malik Nabers to visit Arizona Cardinals after LSU pro day, per report

Top NFL Draft receiver prospect Malik Nabers will reportedly visit with the Arizona Cardinals after the LSU Tigers' pro day.

22 hours ago

Desmond Ridder looks to pass...

Tyler Drake

QB1 or not, Desmond Ridder keeping starter mentality with Cardinals

New Cardinals QB Desmond Ridder is focused on using the good and the bad from his first two seasons rather than listening to outside chatter.

2 days ago

Jonathan Gannon and Kyler Murray look on...

Tyler Drake

Cardinals’ Jonathan Gannon: Kyler Murray’s ‘best football is ahead of him’

Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon believes Kyler Murray will continue taking the necessary steps forward with a full offseason of work.

2 days ago

Kyler Murray chats with Jonathan Gannon...

Arizona Sports

Arizona Cardinals will face ‘really good’ AFC opponent for joint preseason practices

The Arizona Cardinals expect to hold joint practices in the preseason against a really good AFC opponent, in the words of Jonathan Gannon.

2 days ago

Patriots and Cardinals kick off return in 2020...

Associated Press

NFL owners approve new kickoff rules for 2024

NFL kickoff rules will take on a hybrid approach similar to the XFL. League owners approved the new measures Tuesday.

2 days ago

Arizona Cardinals’ Antonio Cromartie believes he’s one of the two best CBs in the NFL