Originally posted by GNielsen:
I don't think they'll be able to sign him, but I don't think it's because he'll want to play for Dallas. Lots of players never get to play for their childhood favorite team. Tom Brady has been mentioned and he's a great example. Aaron Rodgers was Niner fan. Joe Montana was a huge Steelers fan growing up. Jerry Rice loved the Saints as a kid. These guys a pros. Crabtree will be offered a huge contract somewhere else and the Niners won't be able to compete - that's my feeling. The Niners have a list and he's the third or fourth priority on that list. I'm pretty sure Kaepernick and Iupati are above him on the list and they're going to cost serious money. I think the Niner organization is probably hoping they can develop Quinton Patton to be an active, aggressive, good-hands possession receiver like they have in Crabtree.
Maybe you are right but my initial impression of Patton is that he lacks the physicality of MC15 as far as blocking, breaking tackles for YAC and just in overall toughness. A couple of offseasons from now and he might but this doesn't seem to be the case now. I think Patton can be a fine receiver but not quite as tough as MC15. Now with potentially 6 picks in the top 100 next draft I am sure we can add to our receiving core with AJ and Quinton as core pieces and I would not rule out a 2 year extention for Boldin if he plays well and we get nowhere with Crabtree this summer.
There are a lot of vets that we might cut pay or cut bait on to make room for and keep our younger stars. Rogers, J smith, Whitner, Boldin, Goodwin are all older players that are highly compensated and will get decreases in pay to make room so we can't rule out the fact that we may retain our number 1 receiver.
I also think that MC15 has grown to love the 49ers and is keen to the idea of playing with Kaep for years to come. I think the reason he is busting tail this season is because both he and his agent know that we tend to extend our core players the year prior to their contract year and he is hoping to force us to do just that with him the summer of 2014. Otherwise he could simply make this effort in year 6 to set up his free agency.
If we can meet his price we keep him and extend him this summer, if not....??