National Football League

Cromartie wants to remain with Jets

Published Feb. 17, 2011 12:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Cornerback Antonio Cromartie said on Twitter Thursday that he is planning on staying with the Jets, despite reports he is not a top priority for the team.

"U know I could care less about a rumor because as of now and until me and my business partners are told otherwise I'm a JET to the end," Cromartie wrote on his verified Twitter account Thursday.

"Gang Green baby. Plus it's just a rumor. Lol."

The NFL Network reported Wednesday that the Jets are not likely to re-sign the free-agent cornerback.

But according to team sources, the Jets have not definitively decided to cut ties with Cromartie, one of several key free agents on their roster. Cromartie, though, is not the top priority to sign.

As multiple outlets, including The New York Post, have reported since the end of the season, receiver Santonio Holmes is the team's top priority to re-sign. That is because they consider him the most dangerous offensive playmaker on the team.

The Jets would like to re-sign receivers Braylon Edwards and Brad Smith as well as Cromartie, but they know that is likely not realistic.

There has been speculation about Cromartie's status with the team since the end of the season. His performance on the field, while mostly solid, was spotty at times.

He upset some people in the Jets organization when he called Patriots quarterback Tom Brady an expletive before the teams' playoff showdown.

He cursed out the NFL Players Association over the potential lockout, and he got into a Twitter war of words with Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck last month in which he threatened him.

When Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum was asked several days after the season about Cromartie's performance, his praise was lukewarm at best.

"By and large he had a good year for us on the field," Tannenbaum said. "It wasn't perfect, but he did everything we asked of him and he got better. Based on his entire body of work he is a guy we'd like to keep."

Cromartie, 26, was traded to the Jets by San Diego after the 2009 season in exchange for a third-round draft pick.

The former Florida State Seminole has also dealt with several paternity suits during his career, the result of fathering nine kids with eight different women across six states.