On ThisIs50.com, rapper 50 Cent's website, Cromartie, during a conversation about the Jets, Geno Smith, Rex Ryan and more, drops this one on reporter Ashley Ray around the 3:17 mark:

“They need to just let it go. We’re just going to do it anyway. They just need to let it go. They need to go ahead and say, ‘Y’all go ahead, smoke it, do what you need to do.”



Later, he said that he said “players are just going to do it; not “we’re.” As in, not him.

"The interview that I did on the weed policy, I never said We're I said tht Players will smoke anyway. I don't smoke so I don't care about it" — Antonio Cromartie (@CRO31)

Considering the states from which the two Super Bowl teams hail — Colorado and Washington, both have legalized marijuana use — Cromartie’s discussion of the topic is not out of left field. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he’d be open to learning more about the drug’s medicinal purposes, it doesn’t appear that the NFL is eager to lift the ban — or stop testing for the substance.


GEORGE BATTLED DEPRESSION


Eddie George’s NFL career ended and at last, he was stood up and knocked down. With the Tennessee Titans, he plowed through obstacles, but this time, George couldn’t get up.

Depression hit him, and hit him hard.

With no games to prepare for, no touchdowns to run, no locker room within which to fraternize, George was at a loss.

“It never got to those depths where I wanted to end my life, but I can certainly understand how some guys get to that point,” George told The Tennessean. “There wasn’t that instant success on the football field, where you worked hard all week and you have a victory and a great game on Sunday. There were some things I had to go through that weren’t necessarily helping me and my family out.

“I can certainly see where guys who don’t have the proper guidance or right mindset can take that turn for the worst.”

George will discuss what he calls his “daily battle” on Showtime’s “60 Minutes Sports” Wednesday night.

George, a Heisman Trophy winner at Ohio State and one of the best running backs in the history of the NFL, began a broadcasting career after his football playing days ended. He was released after nine years with the Titans and then retired after one season with the Cowboys. Television was a job, sure, but it didn’t satiate his competitive spirit and his love of a pro player’s lifestyle, either.

The results, he admit, weren’t nice, as he jeopardized his marriage, friendships and mental health. He says he “had no idea what to do next” when football was over. He didn’t begin to turn it around until three or four years ago.

“I was fighting demons and trying to get a peace of mind that did damage to me and my family, my wife. … Hanging out and chasing (women) and all the wrong things," he told The Tennessean. "All the things that served me as a player didn’t serve me as a man who’s 35, 36, 37 years old trying to redefine himself. Something had to change in me.”

He added: “I didn’t have a chance to write my own ending, and that bothered me.”


CASSEL DONE WITH PURPLE


The Minnesota Vikings already had a lot of work to do with their quarterback situation this offseason.

The list just got longer.

Matt Cassel will void the 2014 option on his contract and become a free agent, a person familiar with his decision told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the situation.

Though the Vikings could've also cut him before paying a roster bonus next month, Cassel would've made $3.7 million this year had he not opted out, the same amount he made in the 2013 season. Let go by the Kansas City Chiefs last year, Cassel signed with the Vikings as the backup to Christian Ponder but finished the season as the starter.


FALCONS RELEASE SAMUEL, NICHOLAS


The Atlanta Falcons have released two former longtime starters, cornerback Asante Samuel and linebacker Stephen Nicholas, from their defense.

The 33-year-old Samuel started only 10 games in 2013, when the Falcons finished a disappointing 4-12. He was a spectator down the stretch as the team turned to rookie cornerbacks Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford.

Samuel, who began his career with the Patriots, had six interceptions in his two seasons in Atlanta. He has 51 career interceptions, including a career-best 10 with New England in 2006.

Nicholas made 51 starts in seven seasons with the Falcons, including only four starts in 2013. He was a fourth-round pick in 2007.

The 30-year-old Nicholas started 15 games in 2012, when he had a career-high 95 tackles, two sacks and one interception.


NFL ON CBS ... ON THURSDAY


The NFL has decided to shift eight of its Thursday night games to a broadcast network, and announced Wednesday that CBS won the bid to showcase more of television's hottest property.

CBS will air the games during the first eight weeks of the season with its top broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, simulcasting them with the NFL Network. The league's cable network will show six Thursday night games alone later in the season, produced by CBS with Nantz and Simms also in the booth. Two Saturday games are included in the deal, and they'll reportedly be on the NFL Network.

The NFL said the contract is for one year, and the league has an option to extend it for 2015. Financial terms were not disclosed.

CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox and Turner were all interested in the NFL's Thursday night package. Live television events like sports and awards shows are increasingly important for broadcasters as the audience fragments for traditional fare, and football games are the most dependable ratings-grabbers. Sunday's Super Bowl, with 112.2 million viewers, set a record as the most-watched program in U.S. television history.

"We want to make Thursday night football as big as possible in the minds of the NFL fan," Rolapp said.

Part of the reason for a short-term deal is the NFL's indecision about whether it sees the Thursday night franchise as best for its cable network in years to come, or whether the rights money and greater exposure offered by a broadcast network is the smarter financial play.

CBS will have no flexibility in what games it broadcasts on Thursdays. The NFL will announce its Thursday schedule before the season begins, Rolapp said.

"You can never be too rich or too thin," CBS Corp. Chairman Leslie Moonves said. "You can never have too much programming."

CBS airs its most popular comedy, "The Big Bang Theory," on a strong Thursday night schedule. The NFL package will enable CBS to start its Thursday night schedule later in the fall, around the beginning of November, and give it a large audience to promote its other programming. CBS will also probably sprinkle some of its Thursday shows elsewhere on the schedule in early fall to give other nights a boost, Moonves said.

Contributors: Rana L. Cash, The Associated Press