Chargers Are Shopping Antonio Cromartie
February 17th, 2010
Late Tuesday evening, Chris Mortensen of BSPN.com filed a story that the San Diego Chargers are shopping and actively making phone calls around the league looking to swap talented cornerback Antonio Cromartie for a running back.
The Chargers’ most pressing offseason need is in the offensive backfield. Tomlinson declared shortly after the season that he believed his nine-year career with the Chargers is finished. He expects to be released shortly. Sproles is a pending restricted free agent who would be due $7.3 million in 2010 if the Chargers tender him a contract, a 10 percent increase over his 2009 franchise-tag salary of $6.67 million. Sproles has said he intends to test the market but expressed a preference to remain in San Diego.
While Mort cites the Cowboys as a potential suitor due to their running back depth, Joe knows of an NFL team that plays along the west coast of Florida that has a deep stable of running backs.
Let’s look at the possibilities:
Cadillac Williams: Joe loves the guy. No one has a bigger heart. But let’s be honest, Caddy is damaged goods despite being effective. It would take more to sweeten the pot to land Cromartie than just Caddy.
Earnest Graham: Another good guy. Here too, he may not fit San Diego for a variety of reasons, most glaring would be his age and tread on the tires.
Derrick Ward: Though he ran well when he got rare chances to run, the former 1,000-yard rusher was reported to be very irritated at his limited number of carries. Maybe there was a reason for that?
Joe wonders if Ward would be enough of a lure to acquire the former Florida State cornerback, Cromartie?
There’s no question the Bucs need a cornerback. Word is the Bucs are targeting a corner high in the draft. The 2010 season is expected to be Ronde Barber’s last year.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:45 am
swap him out for ward if you can…i would do it…why not at this point….ward was a system player here in new york…..then it gives us a reason to take some sort of running back in the draft if they so choose…..like 3rd round maybe……or give graham the carries he deserves…..or give huggins and peanut a bigger role….ward is the odd man out…so take an experienced corner and cut your losses….adam from ny
February 17th, 2010 at 7:15 am
I seriously doubt that San Diego would deal Cromartie for Ward straight up. The Bucs would have to throw in a draft pick methinks.Still, it would be something to consider.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:30 am
I knew exactly where this column was headed. There is no way the Chargers swap Cromartie for just Ward. Mike J is correct in saying that a draft pick would also have to be coming as well. And with Mark D. basically saying the draft is more important than life itself, I don’t see the Bucs doing that.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:31 am
Man i would love to see Cromartie,Talib ,TJ and move Barber to the other safty,now that would be a nice secondary
February 17th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Ward and Clayton for Cromartie. It addresses a need plus we get the benefit of addition by subtraction by dumping Clayton.
Hey one can dream right?
February 17th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Adam from NY, I am a fan of your posts here. Ward for Cromartie? Come on dude. If you know that Ward was a system player in NY obviously Chargers front office does too, we are not fooling anybody here.
February 17th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Cromartie is only 26, so he does still have some years ahead of him. If the Chargers would take one of the teams RB’s & a 3rd or 4th rounder, I’d hope the Bucs would do that in a heartbeat. Not sure were he’s at as far as his contract goes, but he could really solidify the secondary for years to come.
February 17th, 2010 at 11:17 am
How about Ward and a Round 2 draft pick?
February 17th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Ward and Clayton or Ward and a pick.
February 17th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
We couldn’t even get a waterboy for Clayton!
February 17th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
bucfanjeff:
No one’s going to want Clayton with his contract.
If Dominik tries to pitch Clayton in any trade talk, the GM on the other end will hang up on him.
February 17th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Getting Clayton in the trade would require a phone call from “Rah” to explain to the Chargers how great he is………………….Didn’t you see that Dallas game?
BTW, is it just me or are Rah and “Kid Dyyyyyyynoooooomiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite” from Good Times the same person?
February 17th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Here is what we need to do. Trade them D. Ward and Barrett Rudd. We could get Cromartie, who is only 26 and has all the talent in the world. The Chargers just don’t like him so he suffers from it. In addition to Cromartie SD could send us a draft pick, maybe a 2nd rounder. The 29th overall pick would be nice but I do not see SD wanting to come off that pick. Kills two birds with one stone as the expression goes. The Bucs seem to not want to pay Rudd the money he deserves so why not do this?!?!
February 17th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Rudd sucks, and the Chargers are aware of it. And they would throw in a second round pick too? Not a chance. D. Ward is no better than an average back up. He looked good with that Giant Offensive line, not ours.
How is it Rudd deserves money? Isnt he the starting linebacker and Captain of a Defense who finished absolute dead last against the run? Plus the guy can’t cover very well , and is a bad tackler in space.
We don’t have anyone we can trade who would interest San Diego, unless you want to trade Talib, or maybe Tanard. Thats just about it as far as any trade value at all. Cromartie would be great to have, but would take a second round pic from us at least to get him.
February 17th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
How does Rudd not deserve the money. He may have had a tough year even though he got 205 tackles. The DL is terrible and so is our secondary. Thats not his fault. Everyone wants him to be more of a leader but Tampa won’t commit to him. His tackles each year confirm his talent. And, SD is about to lose Merriman, so LB is something they will have to draft. Why not just send them ours so we don’t have to pay him and pick up Cromartie, who I have personally loved since his FSU days!!!
February 17th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Well, I dunno, if the team has any bright young talent isn’t it in the secondary? Not that I am super impressed with it. Rudd is by no means alone in having a tough year, but his struggles extend back to that horrid run near the end of 08 also. Im with you on Cromartie, plus id like to see us take a run at Marshall. Contrary to the position of the GM, I can’t see how just bringing in a bunch of rookies is going to help this team. At best we get three guys out of the ten picks that contribute next year. Hey, the best move the GM has made (aside from trading Adams for a 2nd rounder) is the trade for Winslow. He really helped Freeman and made a lot of plays. Gee, lets try that again!
February 18th, 2010 at 2:51 am
i hear ya jonny, however the chargers are shopping him because they think he is sort of done…or so i have heard…they are very dissapointed in his late season play and felt he played poorly in the playoffs vs. the jets…so maybe they know something we dont……anyway we as bucs fans know we can part ways with ward…..who knows….a swap out of the 2 players might be something to look at if san diego wants to play…..we dont need ward…maybe the chargers feel they dont need cromartie….im just speculating with off season banter…..adam from ny
anyway truce jonny truce…lol
February 18th, 2010 at 11:09 am
can’t believe I am wasting my energy typing this. chargers wouldn’t want any of our backs, much less trade a value player for them. I can’t believe i just took the time to…..