Kenrick Ellis

Jets defensive lineman Kenrick Ellis is expected to serve 45 days in jail starting June 15 after he pleaded guilty to an assault and battery charge that stemmed from a 2010 incident in Virginia while he attended Hampton University.

At a hearing in Hampton, Va., on Monday, Ellis was sentenced to 179 days in prison, with 89 days suspended. Based on Virginia law, the 24-year-old will serve 45 days with good behavior, according to Ellis’s attorney Timothy Clancy.

This sentence allows Ellis to avoid missing any of the NFL season and will not result in him being deported to his home country of Jamaica.

Ellis had originally faced a felony malicious wounding charge from the fight, and he would have spent up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Had Ellis, who is not a U.S. citizen, been convicted of felony assault, he would have faced deportation, according to immigration law.

The legal issues are not over for Ellis, though, as he still faces a $3 million civil suit that was originally filed last April by the victim, Dennis Eley, who was being mentored by Ellis’ girlfriend.

The Jets selected Ellis in the third round of the 2011 draft. He appeared in five games last season, recording six tackles.

Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie's marital difficulties became public when his wife faked a suicide attempt, leading to police intervention. (AP)

According to a New York Post report, Terricka Cason Cromartie, wife of Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie, was forced to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after faking a suicide attempt in order to prevent her husband from cheating on her.

At 2 a.m. on May 6, Cason Cromartie sent her husband a series of text messages stating, “God forgive me, I don’t want to die. What have I done?” and, “I cut my wrists. I took those pills.”

The cornerback, who lives with his wife in New Jersey but was in Miami when he received the messages, called the New Jersey police, telling them, “There’s a problem at my house. She’s bleeding. She cut her wrists.”

When the cops broke through the door of the Cromartie household, they found Cason Cromartie, seven months pregnant, laying in bed with her two daughters and no sign of blood.

Cason Cromartie admitted to faking the suicide attempt because she thought her husband was “cheating on her,” according to the police report.

The 31-year-old mother also admitted sending text messages “to the woman she believes is romantically involved with her husband.”

When police told her she needed to undergo psychiatric evaluations, she became “belligerent, uncooperative, irrational and argumentative” but eventually agreed. The state’s child-protection agency took temporary care of her children.

Cromartie is the father of 10 kids, including eight with seven other women.

LaDainian Tomlinson

Jets running back LaDainian Tomlinson might play his final game Sunday, when his team visits the Dolphins in Miami.

Tomlinson, 32, is in the second and final year of his contract with the Jets after nine seasons with the Chargers. He has seen his production limited this year, rushing 64 times for just 224 yards and catching 38 passes for 426 yards. He has one rushing touchdown and two TD receptions.

Tomlinson said he would consider playing elsewhere next season, but he hinted that if he was only offered the league minimum, he might retire.

“There’s definitely the thought that this possibly could be [the end] because you never know how things shake out,” Tomlinson said Thursday. “For me, it just depends on the situation. I’ve said that before. I would love to keep playing, but if the situation is not right, then I won’t. And this possibly could be my last game.”

Of course, if the Jets sneak into the playoffs — with a win and some help — it wouldn’t be the last game for the player who ranks sixth on the NFL’s career rushing list, 34 yards behind Jerome Bettis.

“I’ve got kids, man,” he said with a laugh. “I mean, I don’t know. It would be hard for me to do that. It’s never been about the money for me. It really hasn’t. But at some point, you have to close that chapter if it just doesn’t line up. So I’m just going to wait and see what happens.”

Welcome to Monday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire.

WHAT’S HAPPENING LOCALLY MONDAY:
MLB: Orioles at Red Sox, Game 1, 1:05 p.m. (NESN; WEEI)
MLB: Orioles at Red Sox, Game 2, 7:10 p.m. (NESN; WEEI)

AROUND THE WEB:

♦ Following Sunday’s announcement that Syracuse and Pittsburgh will be leaving the Big East for the ACC, there are rumors that UConn wants to follow, with Rutgers speculated to be going as well. UConn president Susan Herbst preached patience but added: “It is my responsibility as president that we stay in constant communication and be actively involved in discussions with our counterparts from around the country to ensure the successful long-term future of our university’s athletic program.”

Even without UConn, the ACC has positioned itself as a college basketball powerhouse. Meanwhile, across the country, the Pac-12 reportedly is positioning to add Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.

♦ Following a fan’s use of a stun gun during a fight in the stands on Sept. 11, the Jets ramped up security for Sunday’s game against the Jaguars, patting down fans from chest to ankle and having them turn on their cell phones. “You’ve got 80,000 people coming in here,” one security said. “I think we do a damn good job.”

♦ Oklahoma State beat Tulsa 59-33 in a college football game that was supposed to start at 9 p.m. Saturday but was delayed by bad weather and did not kick off until after midnight, ending at 3:35 a.m. That raised questions about why the game wasn’t postponed. “I just don’t think it’s the best thing for the student-athletes,” OSU coach Mike Gundy said. “I’m not sure why we had TV timeouts at 3 o’clock in the morning.”

ON THIS DAY TRIVIA: On Sept. 19, 1977, which Red Sox player singled in his first two plate appearances after going 4-for-4 the day before in his major league debut, giving him hits in each of his first six major league at-bats?

Read the rest of this entry »

Steelers wide receiver Jericho Cotchery has quickly changed allegiances now that he’s no longer a Jet.

“It was time for a change of scenery,” Cotchery told Scott Brown of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I didn’t really see myself fitting in.”

Cotchery also said he believes the Steelers are “a Super Bowl contender,” according to the Tribune-Review’s Gerry Dulac. Whether that means he did not think the Jets were a Super Bowl contender was never addressed.

Cotchery added that the player-development “atmosphere” in Pittsburgh is ideal for him.

“The way they handle their guys over here, it’s something I need at this time,” Cotchery said. “It’s the best atmosphere for me to thrive in as a player and as a person.”

Jets receiver Plaxico Burress (right) chats with quarterback Mark Sanchez while resting his ankle at Thursday's practice. (AP)

Newly acquired Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress tweaked his ankle running undefended routes with Santonio Holmes on Wednesday and has been sitting while the swelling subsides. Burress insisted the injury was minor.

“It’s nothing serious,” Burress said Thursday. “I know it’s going to be one of those things where, to everybody else on the outside it’s going to be this huge thing, but it’s just a little swelling.”

Burress had been eligible to begin practicing on Thursday.

Burress added that this ankle injury was not related to the tendon problems he suffered from with the Giants.

“When I did it, I kept running routes,” Burress said of this injury. “Maybe when I tweaked it, I should have iced it at that point. But maybe me just keeping working and keeping going made it a little bit worse. I woke up this morning and had a little swelling and they just told me to shut it down for a day or two.”

Jerricho Cotchery

The Jets released veteran wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery on Thursday, and Manish Menta of the New York Daily News wrote Friday that Rex Ryan said Cotchery had wanted to be released since February.

“I probably saw it coming for a little while,” Ryan said. “But I guess I never wanted to admit it.”

Menta wrote that Cotchery felt disrespected “disrespected and under-appreciated,” according to a source, after the team refused to renegotiate his contract, signed Plaxico Burress and then brought in former Raven Derrick Mason (802 receiving yards, seven touchdown catches in 2010) for a physical.

Jerricho Cotchery

The Jets would trade wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery “for the right price in the right deal,” NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi reported Monday.

After posting four straight seasons of 800+ receiving yards from 2006-09, Cotchery had a down year in 2010. He missed two games, recorded just 433 yards in 14 games, and caught just two touchdown passes. Cotchery was injured in November, then underwent back surgery in the offseason.

Jets owner Woody Johnson assembled the entire organization Monday morning, and a source familiar with the meeting told ESPNNewYork.com’s Rich Cimino that the team said it would repay all wages lost during the lockout before the employees returned to their desks.

Cimini wrote that the Jets slashed all employee salaries — including coach Rex Ryan‘s and GM Mike Tannenbaum‘s — by 25 percent when the lockout started in early March.

Ryan gave a “fiery” pep talk to the rest of the Jets organization, and Tannenbaum also spoke.

Upon returning to his desk, one employee reported the lost wages had already been direct deposited.

Safety Ed Reed told ESPN’s Ed Werder that he and other Ravens players wanted Rex Ryan hired as head coach for the 2008 season instead of John Harbaugh. Ryan was defensive coordinator when the Ravens went 5-11 in 2007. The entire coaching staff was dismissed following that season, and Harbaugh became head coach.

Harbaugh made Ryan defensive coordinator again, as well as promoting him to assistant head coach, but Ryan left after the 2008 season.

“We did not want him to leave,” Reed said. “It hurt when he left.”

“There was a reason why that defense was the way it was,” he added. “I would play anywhere with Rex — in a dark alley, on the street, in high school football, sandlot, anywhere — because he makes it fun. He loves this game. He truly loves this game and there’s a reason why those guys in New York back him the way they do.”