Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie backs off retirement talk

As expected, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has backed off his retirement talk from Monday.

The 27-year-old cornerback, fresh off one of his best seasons in professional football, talked about hanging 'em up at the Broncos' press conference Monday, to the surprise of many in attendance. During Tuesday's media day, he retracted those sentiments.

"They misunderstood what I was saying," Rodgers-Cromartie said. "I'm not thinking about retirement in terms of giving up."

DRC went on to compare his situation to Fabian Washington. "First round, one contract, got a one-year deal, never came back. I work out with him, he's still fast, still in his prime and I think, 'that could be me.' I think about guys lke that."

I'll say this - it's still not clear to me where DRC's heart is. He can say he was misunderstood, but his comments about having a goal to play five years and having played six lend themselves to his original statements Monday: that this could be his last year in the NFL.

If he does return for a seventh season, he admitted Denver wouldn't be a bad place to hang around. "They gave me a chance, gave me a one-year deal. I felt it was out there in the middle of nowhere and I could zone in on football. It's a football city."

"They didn't tell me how good I was," continued Rodgers-Cromartie. "I was kind of mad when I first got in the room and they put on a few plays, they weren't good plays. I was like, where are they going with this. They said you do this and that and your game will improve. That really stuck out. They refined my game. I worked on it, worked on it in the offseason and had a good year."

The improvement is apparent. ProFootballFocus.com graded Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in the negative  (sometimes significantly) every year since 2009. Until this year, that is - he bounced back with an extremely strong +14.9.

DRC then confirmed he would re-sign with Denver, should the opportunity present itself. "Yes sir," he said. "The fans are great. Everything's great - other than that weather ain't too friendly."

If the weather isn't friendly for DRC in Denver, you would think the Super Bowl weather would bother him too, right? Surely he isn't looking forward to the cold?

"I hope it's going to be cold," DRC said of the Super Bowl. "A lot of people think that's what football weather is supposed to be - cold, snowy, rainy. It's not that hard to play in the cold."

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie: Whether it's about retirement or weather, no one knows what he wants but him.