Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie - Pro Football Rumors

DRC: I Never Asked Giants For Trade

October 18th, 2017 at 2:02pm CST by Zachary Links

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie clashed with Giants coach Ben McAdoo in a big way last week. But, the cornerback says that he never asked for a trade (Twitter link via Ralph Vacchiano of SNY).

DRC wasn’t acting like someone who wanted to stay with the Giants last Wednesday when he bailed on a defensive meeting, cleaned out his locker, and left the team’s facility. When asked about why he did that, the veteran downplayed the significance of his actions.

“I’m dramatic. I’m crazy,” Rodgers-Cromartie said.

Rodgers-Cromartie was banned indefinitely after four separate blowups with the team, including his choice to storm off the field in the midst of the team’s loss to the Chargers. But, on Tuesday, the Giants formally ended his ban. DRC probably isn’t McAdoo’s favorite person in the world right now, but the 1-5 Giants had little choice but to bring him back this week.

Should things sour between DRC and McAdoo again, the Giants may want to keep the Oct. 31 trade deadline in mind.

Giants End DRC’s Ban

October 17th, 2017 at 10:38am CST by Zachary Links

Giants cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is back with the team. His suspension is over and he’ll rejoin the Giants in advance of Sunday’s game against Seattle, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets. The Giants have since confirmed the news via press release.

Rodgers-Cromartie clashed with coach Ben McAdoo last week – apparently, on four separate occasions – before being suspended “indefinitely” for conduct detrimental to the team. The collective bargaining agreement dictates that teams can not suspend players for more than four games for such an infraction, so DRC was never facing a ban of more than one month.

Surprisingly, the Giants pulled out their first win of the season on Sunday without DRC in the lineup. The G-Men are now 1-5 after a solid defensive performance against the Broncos, including two interceptions.

Still, having Rodgers-Cromartie in the lineup going forward will give them their best chance to win. The playoffs are almost certainly out of reach, but the Giants would like to avoid a morale-crushing season.

NFC East Notes: Giants, Eli, Redskins, Eagles

October 16th, 2017 at 8:04pm CST by GregGoldstein

Although the Jaguars have been speculatively mentioned as a trade destination for Giants quarterback Eli Manning given the presence of executive VP Tom Coughlin, Manning has no interest in being dealt, as Bob Glauber of Newsday writes. “I’ve not heard [the Jacksonville speculation], I’ve not felt it, not thinking about it,”Manning said. “I don’t want to play anywhere else. I love this team, love this organization, and I want to be here.” New York, of course, won its first game of the season on Sunday night, while Jacksonville fell to 3-3 with a loss to the Rams. Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles‘ role in the team’s offense has been severely reduced, but general manager David Caldwell & Co. will likely finish out the campaign with Bortles under center before targeting signal-caller upgrades in the offseason, as Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com writes.

Here’s more from the NFC East:

On the heels of their dominant first win of the season over the Broncos on Sunday night, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY pointed out (Twitter link) that Giants coach Ben McAdoo gave play-calling responsibilities to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan for the team’s Week 6 affair. McAdoo had been a subject of criticism given the Giants nightmarish start to the season, but it looked like the change may have things turned around, at least for the time being, as New York avoided many big mistakes with the offense going to a more run-oriented approach. The team rushed for a total of 148 yards on the game, with starter Orleans Darkwa accounting for 117 of those yards on 21 carries.
In another Giants twist, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie is scheduled to report to the team’s facility tomorrow morning for a meeting/update on his status, tweets Josina Anderson of ESPN.com. The 10-year cornerback was suspended indefinitely last week for a number of events, which included walking out on a team meeting as well as storming off the field after the Giants lost to the Chargers two weeks ago. Rodgers-Cromartie was one of the best nickelbacks in football last season with him being voted to a second team All-pro by Pro Football Focus and the Associated Press in 2016-17. However, New York’s defense didn’t seem to miss the veteran defensive back all too much as the team picked off Trevor Siemian twice and held the Broncos out of the endzone for much of the game last night.
The Redskins will likely work out free agent kickers this week as incumbent Dustin Hopkins battles a hip injury, head coach Jay Gruden told reporters, including Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post (Twitter link). Hopkins — who is dealing with a partially torn hip and will miss Week 7, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com — converted both of his field goal attempts on Sunday, but missed an extra point that nearly proved crucial in a tight victory over the 49ers. On the season, Hopkins has been successful on 81.8% of field goals, and both of his misses were on 50+ yard attempts.
The Eagles worked out linebackers Donald Butler, Sean Spence and Jelani Jenkins today, tweets Field Yates of ESPN.com. After starter Jordan Hicks suffered a foot injury this past Thursday night, it looks like Philadelphia is on the hunt for a potential replacement. Hicks, 25, does not yet have a timetable of when he’s likely to return, and with Joe Walker being the only other middle linebacker currently on the roster, if Philadelphia was to sign a free agent, the player would stand to have a legitimate chance of getting meaningful playing time.

Latest On Giants, DRC

October 15th, 2017 at 9:13pm CST by Zachary Links

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie‘s “indefinite” suspension may soon come to an end. Giants head coach Ben McAdoo tells NBC’s Al Michaels that he will meet with the cornerback on Monday (Twitter links via Dan Duggan of NJ.com).

McAdoo also explained that DRC had four separate incidents before the suspension went into effect last week. The coach did not get into specifics, but based on a previous report, we have a pretty good idea of what went down. Cromartie walked out of a team activity last Friday, stormed off the field during last Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, and bailed on a defensive meeting on Wednesday before the ban finally came down. Perhaps we’ll learn about incident No. 4 at a later date.

Despite the Giants’ early season struggles, Rodgers-Cromartie was doing alright through five games. DRC still ranks as a starting-caliber corner in the eyes of Pro Football Focus with a quality 80.3 overall score. That’s down from his best work, but, regardless, the Giants need him on the field in order to rack up some Ws.

If Cromartie is reinstated this week, as expected, he’ll be able to suit up against the Seahawks on Sunday at the Meadowlands.

East Rumors: DRC, Marshall, Cowboys

October 15th, 2017 at 10:08am CST by Rory Parks

Let’s take a swing around the league’s East divisions:

In keeping with reports from several days ago, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports that Giants CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie will miss Big Blue’s matchup against the Broncos this week, but he will be back for next week’s game against Seattle, which means he will have served just one game of a possible four-game suspension.
Giants WR Brandon Marshall, who is out for the season due to an ankle injury, has no plans to retire, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Said Marshall, “I’m a competitor, and I don’t want to go out like that. I’m definitely not going out like that.” The report does not come as a major surprise, as Marshall indicated when he signed his two-year deal with the Giants that he would retire at the end of that contract, which expires after the 2018 season.
Former Dolphins OL coach Chris Foerster has checked into a rehab facility in Miami, per Schefter. Foerster’s decision comes less than a week after his resignation from his post with the Dolphins following publication of a video that shows him snorting a white, powdery substance off a desk in the Dolphins’ training facility. Should another NFL club try to hire him in the future — and he had been in demand in the past — he would be subject to league discipline.
Mike Reiss of ESPN.com reports that Patriots LB Shea McClellin, who is eligible to begin practicing this week after opening the season on IR, appears to be close to returning to the field. WR Malcolm Mitchell , however, is not close to returning, and he may not be back this year. DT Vincent Valentine, who went on IR on September 22, could be back at some point this season.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has become a vocal member of the anti-protest contingent in the NFL, and according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, that is creating anger and frustration in the team’s locker room. The anthem issue had not been a hot topic among the Cowboys before Jones’ public statements on the matter, but Jones has helped to make it one, which is not good for a team that already has plenty of on-field concerns.
Despite a great deal of confusion on the matter, we learned earlier today that Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott will remain suspended unless and until he receives an en banc hearing from the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the temporary restraining order that was previously issued is reinstated. The odds of that happening are pretty slim.

Latest On Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

October 13th, 2017 at 11:19am CST by Zachary Links

This week, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was hit with what the Giants are calling an “indefinite” suspension for conduct detrimental to the team. The ban might not last all that long, however. On Friday, coach Ben McAdoo told reporters he and Rodgers-Cromartie will “revisit” the suspension next week (Twitter link via Ralph Vacchiano of SNY).

Furthermore, McAdoo told reporters that DRC has not requested a trade. Even if that’s true, the 0-5 Giants may want to consider that possibility between now and the Halloween deadline. DRC has a cap hit of $8.589MM for this season and $8.5MM for next season before his contract expires. If the Giants are in for a rebuild, and it certainly seems like they are, it would make sense to turn him into draft capital. With young Eli Apple and Janoris Jenkins, the Giants would still have two quality starters to bank on going forward.

DRC has looked slow at times this season, but the stats indicate that he is still playing solid football. In his five games, DRC ranks as Pro Football Focus’ No. 30 corner in the NFL this season with a quality 80.3 overall score.

Giants Ban DRC Indefinitely

October 12th, 2017 at 10:33am CST by Zachary Links

Near the end of business on Wednesday, it seemed like things were heading in a more positive direction between the Giants and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Apparently, there’s still some healing to be done between the team and the cornerback. The Giants announced on Thursday morning that DRC has been “suspended indefinitely.”

The suspension isn’t truly indefinite since the CBA dictates a four-game maximum ban for conduct detrimental to the team. But, at minimum, it sounds like he will not be in action for this Sunday’s contest against the Broncos in Denver. He’ll lose out on $410K in base salary for every game that he misses.

Things got heated between DRC and the team starting last Friday when he walked out of a team activity. Then, during Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, he became visibly angry on the sidelines and walked to the locker room. This week, Ben McAdoo told him he would not be active for the Denver game. Then, DRC walked out of a defensive meeting on Wednesday, resulting in the suspension.

In the aftermath, Rodgers-Cromartie was saying all of the right things, so it seemed like this would be patched up rather quickly. That’s not the case, however, and DRC’s status with the team is now up in the air.

Latest On Giants’ DRC

October 11th, 2017 at 4:28pm CST by Zachary Links

On Wednesday, the Giants suspended Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie after he got into an argument with coach Ben McAdoo. We now have some additional information on how things came to a head between the two.

The issues between McAdoo and DRC started last Friday, when the cornerback walked out of the team’s “recovery day” session, ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano (Twitter link) reports. Then, during Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, the cornerback threw his helmet down on the sideline and walked off the field. On Tuesday, DRC was informed that he would not be active for the upcoming game against the Broncos. On Wednesday, DRC bailed on a defensive team meeting, prompting the ban.

Despite everything that went on, the Giants have no plans to release or trade Rodgers-Cromartie, Graziano hears. Instead, they plan to welcome him once he has served his punishment. And, for his part, DRC says he’ll report to the Giants on Thursday (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Josina Anderson).

Giants Suspend Rodgers-Cromartie

October 11th, 2017 at 12:53pm CST by Zachary Links

The Giants have suspended cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, coach Ben McAdoo announced. McAdoo declined to go into specifics when addressing reporters on Wednesday.

“DRC came in yesterday, we had a conversation that was personal…He came in today and decided to leave. We will suspend him,” McAdoo said before brushing off follow-up questions.

Safety Landon Collins indicated that tensions flared between DRC and McAdoo on the sidelines on Sunday (Twitter link via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com). He even termed the incident as an “altercation.”

The suspension is probably of the indefinite variety. At minimum, DRC probably won’t be in uniform for Sunday’s game against the Broncos. We’ll have to wait and find out whether the Giants will bring him back for games against the Seahawks (Oct. 22), Rams (Nov. 5) and beyond.

Rodgers-Cromartie came to the Giants on a five-year, $35MM free agent deal prior to the 2014 season. He has been among the league’s better corners since coming aboard and earned a Pro Bowl nod for his work in 2015. After missing only two games in a three-year span, he could miss significant time as tensions bubble in New Jersey.

The Rodgers-Cromartie suspension is just the latest setback in what has been a bizarre season for the Giants. The G-Men are 0-5 and there is little hope for a turnaround with their top two receivers out for the year and their best cornerback at odds with the organization.

The Giants have struggled as a whole, but Cromartie has been solid through five games. DRC ranks as Pro Football Focus’ No. 30 corner in the NFL this season with a quality 80.3 overall score. That’s down from his usual work (85.7 average over previous four seasons, including career-high 89.9 in ’16), but still casts him as starting caliber.

NFC East Notes: Cowboys, Giants, Gruden

March 5th, 2017 at 6:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

Had the Giants let Jason Pierre-Paul hit free agency instead of franchise-tagging him for the second time, the Cowboys were prepared to intervene. Dallas was going to attempt to pry JPP away from the Giants if he were available, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY.tv reports. While fitting Pierre-Paul’s high-end salary demands would have been difficult for a Cowboys team that as of now has the least cap room in the league at $3.3MM, Jerry Jones wants to upgrade his team’s pass-rushing corps.

A source informed Clarence Hill of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram the Cowboys are seeking help at pass-rusher and wide receiver this offseason. An interest at wideout seems interesting given that the Cowboys stand to return their top three pass-catchers from 2016, with only Terrance Williams being a free agent, and the team having shifted to a run-based offense. Dallas plans to try and retain Williams, but only at a certain price, per Hill. If the sides can’t work something out, the Cowboys will target a receiver in free agency or the draft.

“We can’t come up empty. We have somebody meaningful there. They are part of our core strategy. But it’s two [positions]. It’s not nine,” Jones said, without identifying those positions. “And I think we have the cap room and whatever we resolve with Tony [Romo], I feel confident we will not lose on those two.”

Here’s more from the NFC East.

The Giants have made an effort to keep Johnathan Hankins, but he’s likely going to test the market, Vacchiano reports, adding that the defensive tackle will almost certainly leave the Giants if he reaches free agency. Vacchiano notes the feeling around the league is Hankins is not quite on Damon Harrison‘s level, but his age (25 in three weeks) should help him secure a deal in Harrison range. Vacchiano estimates Hankins will fetch a deal that pays him around $7MM or $8MM per year. The Giants have just more than $14MM in cap space after spending to fortify their defense last season. Their defensive line contains per-year payments of $17MM (Olivier Vernon) and $9.25MM (Harrison), and coupled with Pierre-Paul’s $16.9MM price tag, it’s unlikely Big Blue can afford to keep Hankins.
Despite that lofty price for tagging JPP again, the Giants would be OK with the eighth-year defensive end playing the season on the tag. Vacchiano notes. The sides remain far apart in talks. The Giants want to keep as much of their defense together for a Super Bowl run during the final three years of Eli Manning‘s contract, Vacchiano writes, but would be hamstrung by Pierre-Paul’s 2017 salary if it’s unable to be reduced via extension.
The Giants are likely to cut or reduce the salary of linebacker J.T. Thomas, Vacchiano writes. Signed to three-year, $10MM deal in 2015, Thomas missed 15 games last season after starting 11 in his first Giants slate. A Thomas cut would create $3MM in cap room while saddling the Giants with a $1MM dead money charge.
Jay Gruden‘s two-year Redskins extension came together quickly after an impromptu meeting at the Combine, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com reports. Team president Bruce Allen and Gruden’s agent, Bob LaMonte, met in Indianapolis and agreed to tack two more years on top of the two that remain on his initial Washington deal. La Canfora notes how this will help counter some of the concerns about GM Scot McCloughan‘s status with the team.
Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Jonathan Casillas received small performance-escalator bonuses, per Vacchiano. The fourth-year Giants corner and third-year linebacker will each receive $500K bonuses in their 2017 salaries. DRC will make $6.98MM in base salary, while Casillas will earn $2.75MM.