1:20pm: There are still some details to be worked out, but the Jets expect to land Cromartie and it looks like it’ll get done, tweets Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports.
8:45am: The Jets are the “clear leaders” in the Cromartie sweepstakes, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
8:11am: Having already reached agreements with Darrelle Revis and Buster Skrine, two of the top cornerbacks available this offseason, the Jets aren’t done looking for help in the secondary. Reports last night indicated that the team was still engaged in discussions with free agent corner Antonio Cromartie, with Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News characterizing those talks as “serious.”
The two sides negotiated into the “wee hours” of Tuesday night and spoke again this morning, but haven’t yet reached a deal, according to Brian Costello of the New York Post (all Twitter links). As Costello cautions, that doesn’t mean Cromartie and the Jets won’t eventually work something out, since the two sides are still talking. In fact, the Jets appear to be one of two finalists for the veteran corner — Costello says Cromartie is expected to choose today between signing with New York or returning to the Cardinals.
Cromartie, who turns 31 in April, has made no secret of the fact that he’d like to sign with the Jets — his Cardinals teammate Patrick Peterson even complained last month that all Cromartie talked about was “freaking New York.” Still, the Cards have maintained interest all along in bringing Cromartie back to Arizona, and the Cowboys were also mentioned yesterday as a possible destination.