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Michael Crabtree Threatening to Sit Out 2009 Season

Discussion in 'Football: NFL, College, High School' started by Lil Pun, Aug 6, 2009.

  1. Lil Pun

    Lil Pun Member

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    http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=dw-michaelcrabtree080609&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

    Normally, the unpredictable football decisions of Al Davis adversely affect only the team he owns, the bumbling Oakland Raiders.

    The NFL’s other 31 teams often benefit from his strange personnel moves, which allow talented draft picks and free agents to slide to them.

    In April, the cross-bay San Francisco 49ers rejoiced when the Raiders selected wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey(notes) seventh overall. It allowed the Niners to select Michael Crabtree(notes), a pass-catching machine out of Texas Tech, at No. 10. Predraft hype rated Crabtree higher than Heyward-Bey.

    Now the Niners’ dream pick has turned nightmare. In a convoluted strategy, Crabtree is threatening to sit out the 2009 season by negotiating off mock drafts which didn’t occur rather than the real one that did.

    Crabtree has decided that he shouldn’t have to be paid less because – based on all the made-up, predicted drafts – Al Davis made a mistake. He wants to be paid more than Heyward-Bey, demanding his contract reflect that it was actually he who was the higher selected receiver.

    It’s a ground-breaking, if intellectually bankrupt, concept.

    Crabtree’s camp said Thursday that he is even willing to sit out the year and re-enter the draft next spring unless he gets more than the $23.5 million the Raiders guaranteed Heyward-Bey. The news was first reported by profootballtalk.com. Anything less than that stratospheric number is “unacceptable.”

    “We are prepared to do it,” David Wells, a cousin of Crabtree, told ESPN. “Michael just wants fair market value. Michael is one of the best players in the draft, and he just wants to be paid like one of the best players.”

    The ridiculousness of a guy who’s never caught a professional pass deeming $20-something million “unacceptable” is a testament to the troublesome way the NFL pays its rookies. A sense of youthful entitlement combines with a flawed structure so that the unproven rookie often makes more than the veteran All-Pro.

    While NFL players tend to earn their money – a disturbing percentage leave the game as near-cripples dealing with neurological problems – Crabtree would be best served getting to camp and focusing on the tens of millions he will earn rather than the few more he may not.

    More intriguing, however, is what Crabtree is trying to pull. Contract negotiations and holdout threats aren’t new. This is. It isn’t just an unorthodox attempt to bypass the traditional (if unofficial) slotting of rookie salaries. It’s putting real value on the unreal speculation that surrounds the buildup to the draft.

    Crabtree is trying to get paid off perception, not reality.

    Pre-draft hype has grown exponentially over the years. What was once the domain of only hard-core fans has taken on a life of its own. All forms of media dedicate enormous resources to it. The Internet is awash in mock drafts. The draft itself has become a major event in its own right. Next April, the first round will move to Thursday prime time – where it will, no doubt, pull monster television ratings.

    Still, as fun and harmless as it is to follow the various prognostications, all of it remains conjecture.

    Perhaps Crabtree isn’t aware that even though ESPN will deem sportswriter speculation on “Who will the Raiders pick?” a “Cold Hard Fact,” it is, in fact, not.

    Not only is none of the pre-draft coverage “real” – there is no reason to believe it is accurate.

    Since there is virtually no benefit for a team to publicly disclose their honest opinions of players, teams blatantly lie about their plans. Why wouldn’t they? Everything you hear should first be assumed inaccurate, not something you can later use in contract negotiations.

    The rest of the coverage and discussion that lead up to the draft is opinion – opinion based mostly on pathetically thin research.

    Crabtree may indeed be a better player than Heyward-Bey, however much of the public and media sentiment to that regard is because Crabtree played on a high-profile Texas Tech team and scored a dramatic touchdown to upset Texas. Heyward-Bey, meanwhile, played on a fairly anonymous Maryland club.

    Just because fans and media – very few of whom watch even a smidgen of tape, have access to team scouting reports or even comprehend the game of football all that well – were more excited about Crabtree means absolutely nothing.

    Even if you could prove (and you can’t) that 31 NFL teams felt the same way, it wouldn’t matter. The draft isn’t about consensus opinions; it’s about the decision of each individual franchise.

    In this case, the Raiders believed Heyward-Bay was better than Michael Crabtree and they put an oversized contract behind it. That was the only actual, factual thing that occurred. Whether everyone disagreed with Al Davis or whether his recent track record is sketchy doesn’t matter.

    The pick is the pick.

    Crabtree apparently operates in a world ruled by Mel Kiper. He wants to be paid based on what was wrongly predicted to occur rather than what actually did. In his mind, he was the first receiver drafted, even if he wasn’t.

    Talk about your mock drafts.
     
  2. moestavern19

    moestavern19 Member

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    The kid is a ****ing diva.

    By the time the draft rolled around I didn't want him either.

    At least DHB is in camp.
     
  3. noscrusir

    noscrusir Member

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    Such a foolish move. I wouldn't give him those guarantees but instead give him an incentive-based contract. Let him put his money where his mouth is.
     
  4. BigVic785

    BigVic785 Member

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    Its that Texas Tech logic :D
     
  5. xcrunner51

    xcrunner51 Member

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    This makes Dunta Robinson whining about getting franchise-player money look not nearly as bad.
     
  6. VooDooPope

    VooDooPope Love > Hate

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    If I was a safety for the 49ers I'd clean his clock first time he came across the middle in practice if/when he finally signs.
     
    #6 VooDooPope, Aug 6, 2009
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2009
  7. jonjon

    jonjon Member

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    Interesting to see whats gonna happen...

    Brian Johnson should have been on both the 360 and PS3 NCAA 2010 covers though.
     
  8. Shaud

    Shaud Member

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    I'm pretty sure they will get a deal done.
     
  9. DreamRoxCoogFan

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    fixed.
     
    1 person likes this.
  10. DFWRocket

    DFWRocket Member

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    so he's willing to lose an entire year's worth of salary in order to make a little more next year? That doesn't even make sense.
     
  11. juicystream

    juicystream Member

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    I don't see whats wrong with asking for more than Bey got. Until the NFL slots rookies, then the players are free to do this. We see signability being a big deal for the first pick, why not the 7th/9th pick perhaps have the same thing. I would expect him to get the same amount in guaranteed money.
     
  12. Pete Chilcutt

    Pete Chilcutt Member

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    Idiots...

    I dont understand these NFL players.
     
  13. xcrunner51

    xcrunner51 Member

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    Prolonged holdouts rarely do.
     
  14. conquistador#11

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    I really hope that the NFL can change the way rookie contracts are negotiated. It's getting out of control. It always has been out of control but now it's getting on my nerves. :mad:
     
  15. madmonkey37

    madmonkey37 Member

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    If he sat out this season and re-entered the draft, wouldn't he be picked later then 10th, which means even less money? I doubt any team is going to risk a high draft pick next year after knowing the kind of money Crabtree wants. I don't really follow the college game, but isn't next years draft suppose to be pretty strong? The 49ers will call his bluff, i'm guessing he be signed after the 1rst preseason game.
     
  16. kikimama

    kikimama Member

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    But he may go to another team so more pressure on raiders
     
  17. Air Langhi

    Air Langhi Contributing Member

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    He will sign.
     
  18. Blake

    Blake Member

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    I am amazed at how much I dislike the guy now considering how much I liked him in college. All kinds of stories came out before the draft about how he was a total "diva" at workouts and had an attitude, now this. "I have to be paid more because I think I'm better?"

    I wish the NFL would be like the NBA when it came to rookie contracts...perhaps make them for 3 years with a "restricted free agent" year in year 4. It blows my mind that these draft picks make as much or more than guys who have proven it out on the field for years.
     
  19. Lil Pun

    Lil Pun Member

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    He was drafted by San Francisco.
     
  20. Oski2005

    Oski2005 Member

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    I heard on Sean and John that his agent denied that they were threatening to sit out a year and that he has not mentioned it to anybody in the media. They made it sound like it was Crabtree's posse run amok. But the original ProoFoosball Talk article claims it's the agent making the threat.
     

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