In a move that’s bound to rock the sports and cultural worlds, the NFL’s New York Jets gave cornerback Antonio Cromartie $500,000 to help him handle his paternity suits for seven babies with six different women.
Cromartie has at least five paternity suits in the past two years with six different women in five states, and he needs an infusion of cash quickly. Enter the New York Jets, who give him a half-million dollars in up front cash, disguised as a bonus, in the final year of a contract that will pay him $1.7 million in 2010.
The star defensive back and former San Diego Charger told reporters in a conference call that he needed to resolve these suits before he can be allowed to begin offseason conditioning programs that begin on March 22.
The baffling part of the whole thing, besides Cromartie’s aversion to contraceptives, is this: he signed a five-year, $12-million contract just four years ago. Apparently, most of that money, if not all of it, is gone.
Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum swore the Jets’ support of Cromartie and said the cornerback has a lot of “work to do” before he can return to the team. For example, Cromartie has to appear for one of his paternity suits in California later this month.
“I made some wrong decisions my first two years in the NFL, and now I have to take that responsibility to be a father. I need to deal with my kids and child support issues,” Cromartie said during a conference call with reporters on Friday. “Those things are being taken care of. I’m going to be the best father to them that I can.”
There is bound to be some heated discussion in the blogosphere about how the team, and indirectly the NFL, is supporting a man who has so many kids strewn around the country out of wedlock. –terry shropshire
