The NFL kicked off its 2009 season and the player who had a chance to be the most electric, dynamic young player in the league wasn’t even on the sideline. He was somewhere, maybe watching on TV, maybe not. He probably won’t be back for Week 2, either.
And at this point, there’s no denying it: Michael Crabtree is blowing a huge opportunity, and he’s either a complete head case or he’s getting bad advice.
The odds seem to be pretty much pick ’em on that one.
The situation is this: Crabtree, a receiver out of Texas Tech, was considered one of the top prospects entering the 2009 draft. Many, many scouts had him rated as the best receiver, and a few thought he was well-deserving of being a Top 4 pick. A foot injury was the first thing that hurt his stock, though even that couldn’t take away from how good a prospect he was.
What hurt was that at some point he opened his mouth. According to various NFL sources, he started rubbing people the wrong way with his attitude as they began to get to know him. Teams such as the receiver-needy Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks began looking in other directions. And Crabtree, who bought the hype and believes he’s a Top 4 talent, slipped all the way to No. 10.
Once he fell, though, he decided it was up to him to buck the “slotting” system used to pay NFL draft picks. He wants more than the reported $18 million in guaranteed money that the Green Bay Packers gave the ninth overall pick, defensive tackle B.J. Raji. He’s snubbing his nose at a five-year, $20 million offer that reportedly includes $16 million guaranteed.
Never mind that $16 million is a startling amount for a player with a surgically repaired foot, whose character has been called into question, and who has already submarined his rookie season. Crabtree wants what he wants.
And apparently he’s willing to sabotage his entire NFL career to get it.
Or somebody is. Maybe it’s his agent, Eugene Parker. Or maybe it’s Neon Deion “Prime Time” Sanders, the showman/ex-player who is Crabtree’s adviser or spokesman or someone who fancies himself as such.
Speaking on behalf of Crabtree during a recent interview on the NFL Network, Sanders said that “I really think” Crabtree is prepared to sit out the entire 2009 season to prove his point. And he thinks Crabtree believes he’s doing the right thing because “there have been two teams that have contacted the San Francisco 49ers desiring a trade and who will pay this kid, and he knows that.” (Never mind that the deadline for trading the rights to rookies has already passed.)
“Why would you settle for $20 million when you feel like you can get $40 million,” Sanders said. “That’s the problem. Pretty much the San Francisco 49ers need him desperately. You would think Michael Crabtree would need it, but he’s not in dire need of money at this time.”
OK, I’ll take a pass on the old “Playing in the NFL is a privilege, not a right” speech — though it is, and on behalf of former sports-crazed little boys everywhere, let me say for the record that should matter at least a little. What team will be crazy enough to pay him $40 million guaranteed — which basically would make him a Top 3 pick — when he re-enters the 2010 draft?
Because right now you’ve got a bad-attitude receiver with a bad foot. Next year you’ve got a bad-attitude receiver with a bad foot who has spent the last year out of football. Worse, he has just told everyone, loudly and clearly, that he values money above all else. And please, save the garbage about respect and fair value. The 49ers are willing to pay him more than all but nine rookies in the NFL this season. That’s very fair and quite respectful, if you ask me.
Crabtree, during this holdout, is committing the ultimate sin. He’s crossing the line from making a “business decision” to a place where he is abandoning his teammates, putting his self-interest above their greater good. And he’s holding up a red flag to any future employer, saying he’s willing to do that at any time if it benefits him. He is above the team, which is the opposite of the way sports — the NFL in particular — are supposed to work.
And if that’s the advice he’s getting, well then, shame on Parker, shame on Sanders, and shame on everyone else who is guiding him into this abyss. He is about to waste a full year of a career that on average lasts about three years. And while he may think he can play 10 to 15 years, you’d think the foot injury would have been a warning about how quickly this all can be taken away.
Oh, and by the way, the NFL is heading toward a lockout in the 2011 season, which will take even more years away from Crabtree. And if that’s not enough to scare him straight, maybe he should think of years in terms of “salary.” The more time he loses, the more money he loses, and unless he can figure out a way to simultaneously end the salary cap era and reverse the aging process, that’s money he’ll never get back.
So the San Francisco 49ers move on. They will compete for first place in a weak division and someone will step into the spot reserved for Crabtree, and even if whoever it is doesn’t prove to be as dynamic as Crabtree could be, there’s a good bet the replacement will be more than adequate. That’s just the way it goes in a “Next man up” league.
As for Crabtree, he doesn’t even get to cash his signing bonus to buy a theater-sized television to watch all this unfold. He gets nothing but an increasingly bad reputation as a money-grubbing, ungrateful, spoiled athlete. And good luck getting a team next year to offer that magic “$40 million” to a player with a reputation like that.
for as long as possible just to be able to see those hits he pulls out week after week. Regardless of the squad he's on, that's one damn good football player.
