Yesterday Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune teased that they would be releasing a story on Friday on Antonio Cromartie’s “legal/financial troubles” and at 12:02AM West Coast, the paper did just that. Brent Schrotenboer wrote this report on his traffic related fines and back child support.

Cornerback Antonio Cromartie – traded by the Chargers last night to the Jets – failed to appear in court twice for different traffic tickets and hasn’t paid 9 in traffic-related fines, causing the Department of Motor Vehicles to withhold his driver’s license application.

It’s one of the latest in a string of traffic and financial problems for Cromartie, 25, whose future with the team is in doubt.

Cromartie was traded to the New York Jets Thursday evening after four seasons with the Chargers.

He is scheduled to appear in San Diego Superior Court later this month for a judgment debtor’s exam related to child support he owes one of the mothers of his children.

Last month, the Union-Tribune reported Cromartie was past due on about ,000 in child support, according to court records and a local attorney.

Cromartie has at least seven children with six different women in five states. All children are under 6.

Records show Cromartie owes 9 for a red-light violation and 0 for failure to appear in court on the charge. He was convicted of the violation on Dec. 10. He also failed to appear in court after getting a ticket for driving while talking on his cell phone, according to the DMV. He was convicted of that in March 2009. It’s unclear what he owes for the latter offenses. Additionally, in April 2008, he was convicted of failure to obey a traffic sign.

Cromartie signed a five-year contract in 2006 with .35 million guaranteed.

Cromartie applied for a California driver’s license in 2006 but didn’t properly complete the application, so he was never issued a license, according to the DMV. Because of his unpaid fines, he’s not eligible for a license even if he does complete his application.

It doesn’t seem much of a coincidence that this story comes out today, as opposed to yesterday. I don’t know that it would have made a lick of difference in terms of what the Jets ended up paying for Cromartie, but it couldn’t have helped.

It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s the kind of stuff that could put him in larger trouble with the law down the road. Last night someone on Twitter asked me

“why do people care about [Cromartie's] “issues”. I dont care if he can read or how many kids he has. He has great upside and makes team better.”

I care because Cromartie has made off the field stuff relevant to his production on the field. Whether he has 100 kids or he has none, that’s his prerogative. I don’t care. If he wants to pay a string of women child support, that’s his deal.

I’m not saying that Cromartie needs to be helping old ladies across the street, or whatever, but as any good libertarian would say, I care when it starts to affect me. Meaning if his focus on the field affects what the Jets can do on defense, then I’m going to care a lot.

Cromartie admitted that the child support issue got to him two years ago, and his production suffered for it. His words from this past July:

But sitting down between workouts last week, Cromartie acknowledged a less-than-focused drift through the 2008 season.

“Last year my head wasn’t in there,” Cromartie said. “I was dealing with my kids and their moms. It had my mind somewhere else.”

If you can’t take care of business away from the field, and it leaks onto the field then that’s a concern to me.

His athletic skills are par excellence, but Dave Szott is going to have his work cut out for him helping this guy away from the field … but that’s what the Jets pays Dave Szott for in the first place, to mitigate that issue.

Like Braylon, Cromartie has all the tools at his disposal to be a world-class player, it’s just up to him to put it together, on and off the field.

From thejetsblog.com. Please read the complete article and let us know what you think below.