The roller coaster ride in East Rutherford is not over yet -- not even close.
New York Giants coach Ben McAdoo announced Wednesday the team will suspend cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Rodgers-Cromartie has started four of the Giants' five games this year, all losses.
"DRC came in yesterday, we had a conversation that was personal upstairs and he came in today and decided to leave," McAdoo said in a news conference clip posted by the team. "We will suspend him."
When asked about the length and reason for the suspension, McAdoo said "that's all I have for you right now."
NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported the suspension stemmed from a "heated" argument between Rodgers-Cromartie and McAdoo that began when the cornerback was pulled from Sunday's game against the Chargers. Rodgers-Cromartie felt he was being a "good soldier" by taking the slot cornerback role, according to Rapoport, and the rift blew up amid the loss and apparently dragged into the conversation McAdoo had with Rodgers-Cromartie on Tuesday.
Ignoring the previous four losses, consider the windfall of news the team has taken in over the past 48 hours:
»Odell Beckham is done for the season (ankle surgery)
»Brandon Marshall is done for the season (ankle surgery)
» Cornerback Eli Apple, a first-round draft pick in 2016, said the team benched him even though the real culprit was "the whole culture, it's everything. We've got to fix it," Apple told NJ.com.
» The Giants head to Denver as a dysfunctional offense preparing to face the league's best defense in prime time.
The loss of Rodgers-Cromartie obviously hurts the team's depth at cornerback. Arguably the Giants' best cover corner this season, his primary distinction as a slot cornerback has gotten him out-snapped by both Janoris Jenkins and Apple, who was benched in Sunday's narrow loss to the Chargers. Apple has the most snaps of any Giants cornerback this season with 328 (Rodgers-Cromartie has 265).
The Giants signed Rodgers-Cromartie as part of a free agency overhaul in 2014. He is in year four of a five-year, $35 million deal.
