Chromartie says Sherman isn’t who he says he is
Antonio Chromartie is a Jet for the second time in his career, re-joining a promising cornerback core alongside Darrelle Revis, who is also in his second New York Jet stint, after moonlighting with the Bucs and Patriots–with whom he just won a Superbowl ring.
In an interview today on SiriusXM’s NFL Radio, Chromartie was asked his opinion on what’s probably today’s most hotly coveted title: the NFL’s best cornerback. His answer was, understandably, Darrelle Revis–who has pretty much been in that conversation since he came into the league–and he took the opportunity to downplay Richard Sherman, regarded by many as the absolute best corner in the game, especially after the Seahawks’ two consecutive Superbowl runs. According to Chromartie, Sherman’s perceived greatness is just that, perceived. The former Charger and Cardinal postulates that Sherman never has to guard opposing teams’ best players.
Go play in a defense where you don’t have two All-Pro safeties. Go follow the No. 1 receiver. Follow him around for a whole entire game and see what you can do. Darrelle Revis has done it his whole career. I’ve done it, Patrick Peterson has done it, Joe Hadenhas done it. He’s the only defensive back that hasn’t. There’s no point in critiquing him. If you want to label yourself as the best corner in the NFL, follow the best guy on every single team. His whole thing will be, ‘We don’t have to do that, I have my trust in the other corner on the other side.’ That’s not the point. If you want to consider yourself the best, the best do what the best do and they follow around the best. And that’s what we’re all getting to.
Chromartie makes a valid point, but having an all-time great defense shouldn’t take away from an individual player’s accomplishments. When Sherman is asked to deliver, he delivers, at an alarming rate, which is something that can be said about only a handful of cornerbacks in the league. Not only that, taking Sherman’s name off the ballot and inserting his might not be the most advisable move from an analytics standpoint. Through the first four years of Chromartie’s career, he amassed 165 combined (solo + assisted) tackles, and 15 interceptions. Sherman, who is entering his 5th season in the NFL, has career stats of 224 combined tackles and 24 interceptions.
Sherman has yet to respond to Chromartie’s comments, but in all honesty, by the time you read this, he probably will have his rebuttal tweet typed out.
