Former All-Pro cornerback Antonio Cromartie was essentially fired from the NFL after he took a knee with the Indianapolis Colts early in the 2016 season.
On Bleacher Report’s Untold Stories with Master Tesfatsion, Cromartie had much to say about his time with the Indianapolis Colts. Cromartie played 10 full seasons in the league before being cut by the Colts after the fourth game of the 2016 season. Cromartie played with the Chargers, Jets and Cardinals before heading to Indianapolis in 2016. His stay there was short-lived, and according to him, he had multiple exchanges with former Colts coach and current Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano.
Cromartie: Colts Told Me Not to Kneel
The 2016 NFL season was the season Colin Kaepernick’s taking a knee became widely publicized, and Cromartie said then-coach Pagano addressed the team early in the season, telling his players that while they may want to do something in protest, he didn’t want his players taking a knee. Cromartie elaborated further by noting that Pagano said that when the team was on the football field, everything should be about football only.
This perplexed Cromartie, who said: “So when it’s about leukemia and your cancer, it’s cool,” referencing Pagano’s past bout with cancer and the ways that issue was integrated into the game and team activities. Cromartie went on to say that he told Pagano he felt being told not to kneel was “bullsh*t,” and the cornerback proceeded to do just that.
Colts Execs Tried to Prevent Cromartie From Kneeling
Cromartie said that having six sons was a big reason he felt so compelled to kneel. “I’m not saying that all police officers are bad,” he noted, but noted that some officers do “abuse their power.” And that scares him, he says, because “I have six sons…what if my son was walking around and he get shot over nothin’? That was my logic,” he said.
Cromartie also noted that he didn’t kneel immediately after being told not to. He said he waited a bit to consider the situation, and he said he spoke to his grandfather, who had served in the Marines, about it. After their talk, along with conversations with other servicemen and servicewomen, Cromartie made the decision to kneel because they supported his right to do so, noting that his freedom of speech was something they fought for. It was after he kneeled where things got ugly between himself and the Colts franchise.
Cromartie said that he first took a knee Week 3, “two or three of the executive guys” told him to get up as he was kneeling. He refused, and he said the team responded by surrounding him with other players in an attempt to block him from view. When he knelt for a second time the next week, when the Colts had a game in London, it didn’t go well, either.
“I actually got benched that game. I got pulled out at halftime and didn’t play the second half at all.” Cromartie said the Colts told him he was benched due to his play, but he said that at halftime, he had given up four catches for 35 yards and a one-yard touchdown that was scored on a very short field following a Colts’ interception. A few days later, he was released, and he never played another down of football again.
Cromartie Released From Colts
According to Cromartie, Pagano called him into his office and told him of his release, citing the fact that the team was getting healthy and there was no longer a need for his services. Cromartie doesn’t buy this reasoning. Cromartie said his response was: “You’re paying me $3 million to release me?” He said he also told Pagano he knew his release was about taking a knee, not anything else. He also took a jab at his former coach, saying: “You boutta get fired anyway,” which, as it turned out, was exactly what happened.
While Pagano denied it, Cromartie remains certain his kneeling was the reason he was released. “It ain’t have nothin’ to do with my age, it ain’t have nothin’ to do with my style of play. It was because I took a knee.”
Does he regret what he did, considering how it all turned out for him? “Don’t regret it at all,” he said, despite receiving death threats after taking a knee. Cromartie said that in spite of being healthy and in good shape, he only received on workout after his 2016 release from the Colts, and that was with the Saints in 2017. He never played in another NFL game after Week 4 of 2016. You can watch Cromartie’s entire interview on Untold Stories here.
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