Landon Buford
On Thursday afternoon, Ex-New York Jet defensive back Antonio Cromartie was in the Twitter Spaces entitled ‘DB Talk 101 & Recruiting Talk with coach Cro’ hosted by Coach Chris Clark.
During the almost three-hour Twitter Spaces conversation, Cromartie was asked how he would approach NIL negotiations if he were entering college knowing what he knows now.
“From what I know now, I would not be worried about the NIL money that just me. I will go to a program where I can be developed; I can be coached hard. That will get the most out of me, and I will get the most out of them because I feel like NIL doesn’t mean anything. It will not be the most money I make, and the money I will make will succeed NIL. If I’m able to make it to the NFL, and that’s something I feel people feel like oh, I’m going to make $300k a year. But, $300k is really $125K because you have agents and the federal government that you have to pay,” said Cromartie.
“So, you got Uncle Sam that you have to pay. Yeah, you make six figures, but at the end of the day, what are you doing with your six figures. I tell my son now. You have to start getting ready to have a foundation. I would rather for someone to donate to my foundation to help my community more than me just having the money and not knowing what to do with it or invest it. I feel like kids need [invest] in a foundation or in a corporate account, so they can understand the tax brackets, and the tax brakes that they can get from certain things. And do things the right way to help out in the communities because it is all about your legacy.”
He added, “What do you want your legacy to say at the end of the day and that’s what I’m all about and that’s what I try to teach to my son. What do you want your legacy to say, what are you going to do in your community, and how are you going to help everywhere you have been in that community. It’s not about you playing ball all the time because once ball is over it’s over. How can I been impact and it continue even after I’m done playing.”
Cromartie is current cornerback coach for the Texas A&M Aggies football team and recently revealed that he was offered 60k to help Alabama with recruiting to come on a visit back in 2002-03.
“S–t Trap, 02/03 I was offered 60k just to come on a visit to help with recruiting when they were on probation. So yeah, I know what you mean when they been paying for years.”
