In the past I have been chirped for always supporting the jerks of sports. Guys like Terell Owens and Michael Vick have gotten my support in the past and will continue to do so moving forward. My defense to the positions I often take is that as long as the guy is talented then I am OK with him being a head case or a jerk. Now if T.O was some scrub in the CFL and ran his mouth as much as he does then I would have a problem. But since he is a future Hall of Fame wide receiver I feel compelled to defend the man when he goes off at his quarterback or yells at a coach.
Having said this I am now going to defend another one of the NFL big mouth idiots. Michael Crabtree. Crabtree is currently in a contract dispute with the San Fransisco 49ers and I think they should give him whatever he wants. Before I get into my reasons for siding with Crabtree let me first lay out the series of events that lead to the current situation.
Coming into the 2009 NFL draft Michael Crabtree was being touted as a top 5 pick and the best receiver in the draft. Unfortunately he suffered a foot injury and was unable to compete at the Combine which hurt his stock.
When draft day came around it was presumed that Oakland would take Crabtree at #7 as they were in desperate need of a wide receiver. Too bad everyone forgot the Raiders are run by a corpse named Al Davis and are the worst organization in the NFL. The Raiders decided to take Darrius Heyward-Bey instead of Crabtree. This meant that Crabtree fell to the 49ers at #10.
After being selected Crabtree made it known that he was the best receiver in the draft and wanted to be paid accordingly. So when Heyward-Bey signed his deal with Oakland Crabtree asked to be paid more.
San Fransisco refused however and said that Crabtree would be paid less than Heyward-Bey because he was selected after him. Thus we have a holdout.
Crabtree has stated that if he does not get the money he feels is fair that he will sit out the season and re-enter the draft in 2010. He is not afraid to sit out the whole season and is perfectly willing to forgo a year of his career.
Now some people might look at this situation and say that Crabtree is being greedy and that he should be happy just to be in the NFL. I couldn't disagree more. I feel like it is the 49ers who are in the wrong and are being cheap.
Michael Crabtree is a top 5 talent and was one of, if not the, best players in the draft. The fact he fell to #10 was crazy and the 49ers instead of being grateful have acted as if he was lucky to be drafted by them. If Al Davis wasn't the most incompetent man in sports than Crabtree would be a Raider. Instead he fell to San Fran. They need to realise that they were gifted a great talent and just pay up.
I will also point out that this is a slap in the face to the fans. An organization as storied as the 49ers should not be squabbling with a draft pick over a couple of million dollars especially when they were 7-9 last year and couldn't score points. It makes the team look cheap when they put money ahead of having a good team. Fans don't appreciate this and if the season goes poorly because of this then there will be problems.
The 49ers are approaching the situation all wrong and are blowing an opportunity to have a very special talent on their team. If Crabtree re-enters the draft as he plans to then the 49ers will also have wasted their 2009 1st round pick which would be a huge blow to a team that is in a rebuilding phase.
Crabtree is the best receiver in the draft and deserves to pay as such. He is committed to getting his money and I like that. He knows he is the best and wants to be treated as such. Some might call it arrogance and greed but I believe that he is sticking to his principles and is trying to ensure the best for himself.
Having said that I think it would be detrimental to his career to sit out this season. Not only will he lose a whole year of his career as a professional football player but he will also not be able to play football anywhere. This means that in the 2010 draft there is no way he will go higher than 10th. Who would pick a wide receiver that hasn't played in over a year in the top 10? Maybe the Raiders actually.
Michael Crabtree is standing firm in what he feels is right and the 49ers are doing the same. On the one hand we have an individual who is trying to make something of himself and ensure life long financial security along with protecting his ego where as the other is an organization who is trying to pinch pennies and make a stand. Who will win? If Crabtree doesn't sign then there will be no winners. He will lose a year of his life and the 49ers will lose a potentially great receiver.
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1 comment:
Oh James, how I missed you.
You are way off. First of all, no draft pick should ever at any point be in contract negotiations with the team that drafted them. They should be ecstatic that they were drafted, and then play well enough to earn a salary. You don't get to play 2, 3 or 4 years in college ball and use that to argue your worth to an NFL franchise.
That being said, Crabtree is being an idiot. You can say he is a top 5 pick all you want, but he was drafted 10th. If the first 5 teams drafting really wanted him, they would have taken him. They didn't, and there is probably a reason for that. He has no right to say that he deserves more than a higher draft pick just because he feels he is skilled. Its about draft position, not personal opinion.
The 49ers should tell him to go fuck himself and let him sit for another year and screw his own career. Other teams will probably take notice of his egotistical antics and realise he would be a detriment to the locker room, and hopefully after his selfish year of sitting out, nobody will draft him.
He should sign an entry level contract, have the year of his life and then EARN the right to negotiate worth with the team. If he truly is as good as he claims, then a year from now I would argue show him the money. But now, I say show him the door.
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