Tag: San Francisco 49ers (Page 19 of 34)

An Open Letter to Michael Crabtree

September 23, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

The Washington Post asked me to participate in their NFL blog “The League” for the 2009 season. Below is a recent post I wrote for the site regarding Michael Crabtree’s contract holdout.

Mr. Crabtree,

I’m writing to you not as a professional adviser, your friend or even as someone who has your best interests at heart. I don’t know you, so I’d be lying if I said I had any kind of personal stake in your career.

But viewing this as an outsider, I have to warn you that you’ve been getting some bad advice somewhere along the way. I’ve been keeping track of your situation in San Francisco and I’ve got to tell you, you could be making one of the biggest mistakes of your life.

You see, you need to show more humility, Mr. Crabtree. Your agent came to the conclusion a long time ago that you were a top 3 pick and, thus, should be paid as such. But you weren’t a top 3 pick – you were the 10th overall pick and while that should have motivated you to prove yourself on the field, you’ve shown that you’re more concerned with money than with playing football.

That’s disappointing to me. As a sports fan, I appreciate it when athletes don’t hold out and they accept market value for their services. I appreciate it when they prove their worth on the field and allow the money situation to take care of itself.

Read the rest at the Washington Post’s The League.

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Jets accused of tampering with Crabtree

September 21, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

According to a report by the New York Daily News, the 49ers have filed tampering charges against the Jets for contacting Michael Crabtree’s agent.

Although the specifics aren’t known, it’s not hard to connect the dots. Crabtree, the 10th overall pick in the draft, is threatening to sit out the season and reenter the draft in 2010. The 49ers may believe the Jets contacted Crabtree’s agent, Eugene Parker, to let him know they’d be interested in trading for his rights, or in drafting him in 2010 with a better salary than the 49ers are offering. The NFL’s trade deadline is Oct.20, while the 49ers must either sign Crabtree by Nov.19, or surrender his rights, putting him back into the draft pool for 2010.
Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum, approached after yesterday’s 16-9 win over the Patriots, declined to comment. Tannenbaum has a good relationship with Parker. In 1998, they collaborated on a complicated offer sheet that helped pry Curtis Martin, then a restricted free agent, away from the Patriots.
Teams can be fined money and/or docked draft picks if found guilty of tampering.

If the report is true, how could the Jets be so stupid? They know that in tampering, they stand to lose a draft pick and for a team that is on the rise, that could obviously be damaging. I know they need a receiver, but going about it this way is a risky endeavor.

That said, we’d all be naïve to think that general managers don’t talk to agents about players that are on other teams. Most agents represent multiple players, so if a player is set to become a free agent or is unhappy with his current situation, the agent is likely to talk to other general managers in order to gauge their interest. So I don’t doubt that Eugene Parker and Mike Tannenbaum had a discussion about Crabtree, although it might be hard for the 49ers to prove that there was any tampering going on.

Nevertheless, this is an interesting situation and I’m sure one that will pick up steam over the next couple weeks. What a mess this has been for the 49ers.

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Hasselbeck suffers injury as 49ers beat Seahawks

September 20, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

It’s always nice when the football gods can add a little insult to injury.

Such was the case on Sunday when the Seahawks fell to the now 2-0 49ers 23-10 in San Francisco. Seattle signal caller Matt Hasselbeck was knocked out of the game after taking a blow to the back from linebacker Patrick Willis while trying to scramble into the end zone at the end of the first half. The team is calling it a rib injury, although there has to be major concern that Hasselbeck took the hit in the back after he virtually missed the entire 2008 season due to back problems.

The insult to Hasselbeck’s injury came when Seneca Wallace entered the game and couldn’t generate any second half points. He did throw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Julius Jones after Hasselbeck left the field, but that’s about where Wallace’s contributions to Seattle stopped as he often settled for check down and underneath passes.

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Warning signs were there about Crabtree

September 18, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

In an article written by Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports, several unnamed NFL front office people said that there were warning signs before the draft that receiver Michael Crabtree was going to be a problem to sign.

He wasn’t alone in that cynicism. While public and media sentiment have been overwhelmingly against Crabtree and Parker, all seven executives agreed the impasse marks a significant failure by the 49ers, too. While second-guessing is easy in hindsight, it didn’t stop some from suggesting that they saw a nasty impasse coming as soon as Crabtree slipped out of the top five and then had Oakland’s Darrius Heyward-Bey(notes) selected in front of him at No. 7 – particularly considering Crabtree was represented by Parker, who has a history of holdouts with draft picks.
“[Crabtree] didn’t even work out for teams, and he still had it in his mind that he was the best player in the draft,” the NFC North executive said. “People were in his ear telling him that from jump street. Honestly, I thought it could have been a problem if Seattle would have taken him [at No. 4]. Then they would have been asking for No. 1 money.”
Added an NFC general manager: “He was represented by Eugene Parker. That was kind of a giveaway right there.”

There was a report that surfaced before the draft that Eric Mangini of the Browns was so turned off by Crabtree’s attitude during a pre-draft visit that the Cleveland head coach said that he wouldn’t select the Texas Tech product at No. 5. So obviously there’s a lot of truth behind the notion that the 49ers should have known that Crabtree was going to be a problem.

That said, what where they supposed to do? Nobody is arguing Crabtree’s athletic ability; he was a top 5 talent that slipped to No. 10 and San Fran had a major need for a receiver. Even if they did think he would holdout, I doubt they believed it would go into the season like it has.

So yeah, there were warning signs. But I still don’t blame the 49ers for taking a shot on a dynamic playmaker that fell into their laps at No. 10. If they can get a deal worked out, then Mike Singletary can get his hands on Crabtree and hopefully straighten out his attitude. Of course, that’s a big “if” in terms of getting him signed.

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49ers reach out to Michael Crabtree

September 16, 2009 / Anthony Stalter

According to the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 49ers co-owner Jed York has offered to meet with first round pick Michael Crabtree (who skipped all of training game and has yet to practice with the team due to a contract holdout) in hopes to come to a resolution.

Take this as a good sign that York is putting pressure on Crabtree’s camp to talk. After all, negotiations and dialogue have been non-existent for most of the 50 days of this contract impasse.
The 49ers want Crabtree on the team. Whether they had him rated as the top player on their board or not, there is no denying that Crabtree was not chosen within the first nine picks of the draft.
When the NFL puts together its rookie salary pool – the cap within the cap that places some broad limits what teams can spend on its rookie class – the dollar amount is derived from where each team selects.
Each draft pick is assigned a figure based on where the selection was made. Each pick is assigned a dollar amount less than the previous slot. That, in itself, does not guarantee a slotting system that teams and players much follow, but it is certainly a guideline that has been the standard for as long as anyone can remember.

The 49ers have been more than fair to Crabtree. They’ve offered to pay him market value and he’s refused. They shouldn’t have to pay Crabtree like he’s a top 5 pick when he was selected 10th overall because if they do, then their next draft pick will think he can get away with the same thing.

Every game that Crabtree misses is just another week where he becomes less valuable to the 49ers. He and his clueless agent are playing a very dangerous game with his career.

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