According to the Niners 10th overall pick in the 2009 draft, Michael Crabtree, he is demanding to be paid $23.5 million (how much Darius Heyward-Bey got from the Raiders at 7th overall) or he will sit out the season and re enter the draft next season. For more background info go here.
I say, let him walk, call his bluff, he isn't going to help the team THAT much. Please remember that the Niners are a running team to start with and they did just fine the 2nd half of the season last year after Singletary settled in.
The Niners need to call Crabtree's bluff and tell him that they hate to see him go, but if he must then they won't stop him. Crabtree would be a fool to sit out for an entire year and expect to be the same athlete re-entering the draft the year after- in fact, he would probably make LESS money the next year he was drafted in 2010 because teams would have doubts in drafting him, whether he was the same athlete he was leaving college after sitting out an entire year, therefore dropping his stock to well after 10th overall.
Yes, I am biased because I would be furious that the Niners would have wasted a pick and wouldn't receive any compensation pick (to my knowledge). But honestly making this decision would hurt Michael Crabtree much more than it would hurt the Niners. Choosing to sit out this season would be a huge obstacle to jumpstarting such a bright and promising career. Can you really imagine Crabtree establishing himself in the NFL as an elite receiver down the road if he sat out an entire season and not staying in top physical shape? Where is he planning on keeping conditioned? The AFL? Even if a team would take him for a one year rental, do not tell me that he would face competition good enough to improve him as a player, not even mentioning how much football knowledge he would miss out on and drastically slow down his development as a player.
So in the end, who has more to lose here? If Crabtree sits out this season and pouts all the way to the 2010 draft, he will have:
1) Lost money in the process, both in one lost year of NFL salary as well as the amount of his eventual contract
2) Deteriorated as an athlete by not facing NFL competition, assuming he played any football at all
3) Completely slowed down his process of development as a player being away from the game for a whole year
and 4) Most importantly, he would have lost the respect of many, many people both within the league and with the fans
Crabtree came into the draft with questions about his attitude and his personality as a diva, and for a brief time he silenced those critics after being drafted lower than expected and saying that he would merely take it as motivation and work harder. Now, with this whole fiasco unraveling, does he really think that teams would be willing to spend a pick anywhere close to as high as 10th on him after he sits out an entire year PLUS he has questionable signability and carrys the emotional baggage of a young T.O.?
So, to sum it up please get over yourself and get your ass into training camp Mr. Crabtree. Be thankful that you have the opportunity to play a sport for a living. Be gracious to the team who drafted you and is paying you market value, not even lowballing you. You were drafted 10th overall and you will be paid accordingly. You have proven nothing to have such ridiculous demands, but if you insist on being difficult then go ahead and walk. I assure you that you have much more to lose here than the San Francisco 49ers.
