Marcus A. Cromartie (born December 3, 1990) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and signed with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2013.

Early years

Ranked as the 43rd best defensive back prospect in the nation by

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

along with 57th best prospect by

Scout.com Scout Media is an integrated sports publishing company that produces Internet content covering hundreds of professional and college teams across America. The company was founded in 2001 and was acquired by Fox Sports in 2005. In 2013, Fox Sports ...

. He was among the Top 100 players in the state of Texas. He was selected to the PrepTicket all-state team and also was a Texashsfootball.com honorable mention all-state team. He was named to second-team all-district in his junior season. He was selected to the first-team all-district and all-area team in his senior season in high school. Cromartie attended

Mansfield Timberview High School Mansfield Timberview High School (THS) is a secondary school located in Arlington, Texas, United States. It is a Mansfield Independent School District campus. Its mascot is the wolf. Timberview High School was named an AVID National Demonstration ...

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

Professional career

San Diego Chargers

On April 27, 2013, Cromartie signed with the

as an

. On December 16, 2013, he was promoted to the active roster.

Cleveland Browns

On October 29, 2014, Cromartie was signed to the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

' practice squad but was released the next day.

San Francisco 49ers

On November 18, 2014, Cromartie was signed to the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

' practice squad. On September 5, 2015, he was released by the 49ers during final roster cuts and was signed to the practice squad the next day. After cornerbacks

Tramaine Brock Tramaine Brock Sr. (born August 20, 1988) is a former American football cornerback. He played college football at Belhaven University and the University of Minnesota before signing with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2010. ...

and

Kenneth Acker Kenneth Acker (born February 6, 1992) is a former American football defensive back. He was originally drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Southern Methodist University. Co ...

sustained injuries, Cromartie was promoted to the active roster and made his first start of 2015 on November 8, 2015 against the Falcons, recording seven tackles. He appeared in eight games in 2015, recording 12 tackles and two pass deflections.

Buffalo Bills

On April 7, 2017, Cromartie signed with the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

. On May 11, 2017, he was waived by the Bills.

Seattle Seahawks

On May 31, 2017, Cromartie was signed by the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 as ...

. He was placed on injured reserve on September 2, 2017. He was released on September 11, 2017.

Houston Texans

On October 4, 2017 Cromartie was signed by the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

. He was released on October 14, 2017.

Detroit Lions

On August 19, 2018, Cromartie signed with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. He was placed on injured reserve on August 31, 2018. He was released on September 18, 2018.

Montreal Alouettes

In April 2019, Cromartie signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL. In the first game of the season, Cromartie recorded seven tackles, and recovered a fumble that was forced by teammate

Tommie Campbell Tommie James Campbell (born September 19, 1987) is an American former professional gridiron football cornerback. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the seventh round of the 2011 NFL Draft. High school career While attending Aliquippa Hi ...

. However this was his only game; Cromartie suffered an injury and was placed on the 6 game injured list. After recovering and coming off the list, he was released on August 7th.

Personal life

He is a cousin of

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie Dominique Reshard Rodgers-Cromartie (born April 7, 1986) is a former American football cornerback who played 11 years in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Tennessee State University, and was drafted by the Arizona ...

, who was an All-American cornerback at

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

, and was drafted by the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

with the 16th overall pick in the

2008 NFL Draft The 2008 NFL Draft was the 73rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players. The draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, on April 26 and April 27, ...

as well as the cousin of former NFL cornerback

Antonio Cromartie Antonio Cromartie (born April 15, 1984) is a former American football cornerback and current cornerback coach for the Texas A&M Aggies football team. He played college football at Florida State and was drafted in the first round by the San Diego ...

References

External links

San Diego Chargers bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cromartie, Marcus 1990 births Living people People from Mansfield, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football cornerbacks Wisconsin Badgers football players San Diego Chargers players Cleveland Browns players San Francisco 49ers players Buffalo Bills players Seattle Seahawks players Houston Texans players Detroit Lions players Montreal Alouettes players Canadian football defensive backs American players of Canadian football