After battling a hip flexor injury for the entire 2013 season, Antonio Cromartie said he won’t need surgery and will be fully recovered by the end of February.
The Jets Pro Bowl cornerback visited a hip specialist following the season who discovered no damage to the hip joint, and Cromartie vowed Thursday he will return to top form next season.
“I will be better than I was in 2012,” Cromartie said while at Jets House near Penn Station.
What he couldn’t guarantee, however, was where he would be playing next season. Cromartie made it clear he would like to remain with the Jets.
“Definitely, I want to be back,” Cromartie said. “But it’s a business. That’s how I treat it. My business is to make sure my body is as healthy as possible.”
He added he hadn’t talked to the Jets about a new contract after coming off what he considered to be a subpar season, despite the trip to Hawaii.
“It was rough, just from the standpoint of dealing with my hip flexor injury,” Cromartie said. “It was frustrating for me because I wasn’t able to play at the level I need to play at.”
He added he wasn’t bothered by the uncertainty in his future.
“It’s not difficult at all,” Cromartie said. “The biggest thing for me is getting healthy. I’m not worried about anything else.”
Because there’s nothing structurally wrong with his hip, Cromartie doesn’t expect any further issues with the injury.
“I’m just making sure my flexibility is cool and then just strengthening everything around my hip,” Cromartie said. “I just had the hip flexor strain the whole entire year. Everyone’s talking about my hip, but there’s nothing wrong with my hip joint.”
As for the Super Bowl, Cromartie likes the Broncos — not surprising, given his cousin, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, plays for Denver.
“I just believe they have too many weapons on the offensive side of the ball that Seattle can’t cover,” Cromartie said. “They’ve got four guys, five if you add Knowshon Moreno out of the backfield, that can catch the ball. It’s hard to cover. You can’t cover all those guys.”