The Football Fan Spot

Michael Crabtree, with the help of MC Hammer, who for some reason was in the negotiations (I kid you not), has finally signed with the Niners. Its hard to judge the Niners on this deal get because the financially terms have not yet been announced. The deal is a 6 year deal and its worth anymore than 20 million guaranteed, it is a bad deal for the Niners.

            Darrius Heyward Bey got 23.5 million guaranteed as the 7th pick and top receiver off the board. As bad of a pick as that was, and as much as Michael Crabtree should have been drafted 7th overall, he was not drafted 7th overall. He was not the top receiver off the board. He does not, especially after this long holdout in which he has proved that more about the money than it is about the game, deserve more guaranteed more than Darrius Heyward Bey. I cut the 23.5 million guaranteed to 20 million because of how much of an arrogant ass Crabtree has been over the past few months and because of the fact that he has already missed a ¼ of a season, about 4% of the 6 year contract, and could miss more because he currently does not know playbook well. He has already been ruled out on Sunday’s game against the Falcons. They may try to work him into the lineup week 7 after their bye week.

            Crabtree will be a non factor this year. Not only has Crabtree not learned the playbook, he has never played in a pro style offense, coming from a spread style offense at Texas Tech, so he does not know any offense that is anything similar to the Niners playbook. He also might not be in game shape having not practiced with the Niners and because he is coming off of major foot surgery. You should not have him on your fantasy roster until he proves himself. 

            If you’ve read any of my NFL draft stuff, you would know that I don’t really like Al Davis’ drafting strategy. I believe that he drafts based on combine measurables rather than skills. Apparently, Michael Crabtree agrees with me. Crabtree is holding out because he wants more money than the 23.5 million guaranteed the Raiders gave Darrius Heyward Bey, who the Raiders drafted over Crabtree with the 7th pick despite the fact that most mock draft sites, including mine, had Crabtree rated way higher. Crabtree believes that Al Davis made a mistake and that he should get more money based on mock drafts.

However, whether or not the Raiders made the right pick, Crabtree was not that pick. He was drafted 10th overall by the Raiders cross the bay rivals the San Francisco 49ers and he doesn’t deserve to get paid any more than that. He wants to be paid based on mock drafts, fantasy, rather than reality, where he was the 10th pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. This is just another example of the NFL’s need for some sort of regulation on rookie salaries. Too many times do we see rookies holding out feeling that they deserve more than they do and missing good chunks of their rookie season as a result. Whether this regulation is done by draft order or by order within a player’s respective position, or, my favorite, a combination of the two. Crabtree was the 10th player drafted and the 2nd wide receiver and deserves to be paid like one, no matter how incapable Al Davis is at drafting.

As for Michael Crabtree, what he’s doing is stupid. He’s threatening to hold out the entire season, based on fantasy, and reentering the draft in 2010. In terms of talent, Crabtree would be the best wide receiver in the 2010 NFL draft class. However, teams know how much money he wants and might be reluctant to draft him because of that. They also might see him as a bit of a head case who values money over his team. Also, history shows that players who sit out a season of football, are never the same. Remember, Mike Williams, who tried to enter the NFL draft after 2 seasons in college. He couldn’t and lost his NCAA eligibility and had to wait a year to play in the NFL. He was eventually drafted, but never had any success whatsoever. Maurice Clarett did the same thing, after being suspended from the Ohio State football team, with no success. He had to sit out a year and never had any success in the NFL, as well, after running a 4.72 40 and being drafted in the 3rd round. Crabtree could ruin his entire promising NFL career by sitting out this season and might not end up making any more money as a result because teams might not be willing to give 40 million dollars to someone who hasn’t played football in a year.

Crabtree needs to sign and shut up, realizing that he’s going to get paid a lot of money. He’ll probably get somewhere in between 18 and 20 million guaranteed money, just for signing his name. He might be set for life just for signing his name. And then on top of that, he’ll get another 3 million dollars per year and, if he’s as good as he believes he is, he’ll have every chance to make plenty of money in the future.