Jets make it official, cut Antonio Cromartie

Everyone saw it coming, including the player himself. Now it's official.

Antonio Cromartie will be released by the #Jets, source confirms. Was just informed.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 9, 2014

The move makes a ton of sense for everyone involved. The Jets save $9.5 million in cap space this year, bringing them up to $33.1 million and setting them up to be big players in free agency, while Cromartie gets a shot at a new deal in a buyers market.

The Jets seem poised for a big makeover, with core veterans Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes also expected to follow Cromartie out the door. Those moves will purge the team of most of the familiar faces from the early Rex Ryan era Jets, a team who had run their course, while opening up an estimated $49.6 million in cap space.

Some of that cap space could be going towards signing Cromartie's replacement. The Jets are reportedly "very interested" in signing Alterraun Verner, who at 25 is the youngest of the top corners on the free agent market.

As for Cromartie, the 30 year old certainly has found an opportune time to hit the free agent market. The combination of the rapidly rising salary cap and Seattle's influence on the league has created a robust market for top cornerbacks, as evidenced by Sam Shields getting $9.75 million a year from Green Bay today.  Cromartie struggled while fighting through nagging injuries in 2013, but the promise of his shutdown play from 2012 (when Darrelle Revis got hurt) could be enough to land him a nice deal.

While he could still have some gas left in the tank, it's very difficult to imagine Cromartie being a viable alternative to Aqib Talib for the Patriots. After all, he did publicly call Tom Brady an asshole.