Report: Colts to Work Out Veteran Cornerback Antonio Cromartie

According to the Indianapolis Star’s Stephen Holder, the Indianapolis Colts are set to work out veteran cornerback Antonio Cromartie in the wake of starter Vontae Davis‘ ankle injury (week-to-week):

Of course, Davis currently isn’t the only injury casualty for the Colts at cornerback, as Patrick Robinson (groin), Darius Butler (hamstring), Jalil Brown (ankle), D’Joun Smith are all also dinged up with injuries.

The 32 year old veteran struggled last season in his return to the New York Jets, making 29 tackles and 12 passes defensed in 15 starts.

Specifically, Cromartie received a 46.5 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked him as only the 87th best cornerback among all 111 qualifiers.

Still, Cromartie does have a ton of starting experience (133 career starts) and remains an exceptional athlete at the cornerback position, even if he’s no longer what he once was.

Originally a 1st round pick of the San Diego Chargers in the 2006 NFL Draft, Cromartie was once one of the best man coverage cornerbacks in football as a 1x 1st Team All-Pro and 4x Pro Bowler–blessed with tremendous athleticism and speed.

I’m pretty sure all of us are still haunted by his insane interception of Peyton Manning from many years prior.

However, he’s clearly lost a step, but still has the starting and man coverage experience for what appears to be a desperate Colts team at cornerback. Both projected starters Davis and Robinson are currently down, which means Cromartie could be thrown right into the starting lineup, both for preseason and the regular season–should Davis’ ankle injury linger longer.

Right now, it appears that Davis’ ankle injury could be more serious than initially anticipated, as the Colts may not have worked out a cornerback of Cromartie’s proven track record if it wasn’t the case otherwise.