Antonio Cromartie is good enough with the ball in his hands that he owns the NFL record for the longest touchdown ever, a 109-yard return of a missed field goal. So it makes sense that the Jets plan to get the ball in his hands more often.
Jets coach Rex Ryan said today that in addition to his primary role as a starting cornerback, Cromartie could become a two-way player this season, and that they’ve already discussed lining him up at wide receiver.
Cromartie has never caught a pass in his NFL career, but he has lined up at wide receiver on a couple of occasions and once ran the ball on an end-around. He also had been expected to play some wide receiver during his final season at Florida State, although he ended up missing his last year of college football after suffering a torn ACL during summer workouts.
Ryan, who also plans to make backup quarterback Tim Tebow a jack-of-all-trades player both on offense and on special teams, emphasized the importance of getting as much production out of the talents of every player on his roster as he possibly can. Cromartie has the talent to make plays at receiver, and it makes sense that Ryan plans to use him there.