Originally posted by MadDog49er:
Originally posted by oldninerdude:
Originally posted by jimbagg:
The stakes are about to get serious for Crabtree. To this point, holding out has cost him nothing (except skipping Singletary's brutal TC). But beginning Sunday, September 13, he loses 1/17th of his potential 2009 salary. That's a big number. He can't replace those dollars with a comparable job.
I expect him to sign within the next 72 hours. All this bull from Deion Sanders, etc is a last gasp negotiating strategy. Time favors the Niners and seriously hurts Crabtree. McCloughan, Crabtree and Eugene Parker all know this.
The Niners are handling this perfectly. No negative comments directed toward Crabtree. I foresee a 2-part response by the club. First, sign Crabtree. Second, and ONLY after Crabtree is signed, the club will be ruthless in going after some draft pick compensation for the obvious tampering. But that is being kept under wraps for now, in order to maintain a positive environment for Crabtree to sign.
If Crabtree's holdout continues into the regular season, through Week 3 or so, it becomes more likely that the Niners would find a "pre-existing physical issue", so that they could PUP him through Week 6, then drop a player to add him to the 53-man roster. Crabtree could then have time to learn the playbook and be a productive contributor to the 53-man roster.
Ah, a voice of reason. Nicely stated.
It should prove interesting to see how Crabby reacts to actually losing some money. It would be reasonable to see him come to the table within the next 72 hours, but he hasn't proven himself to be very reasonable so far.
And, at the same time, it will be interesting to see how the Niners react to a group of WR's without Michael Crabtree. It works both ways, guys.
Labor needs management, and management needs quality labor.
Even assuming that, someday, he actually proves himself to be an NFL quality WR, Crabby does not have a monopoly on the WR position.
Aren't there going to be any WR FA's on the market next season, some of whom may actually have already proven their worth?
Isn't Brandon Marshall going to be a FA next year, for example? Might he not be a potential trade option for Crabby in March if his current problems with Denver persist, as seems likely?
Yes, it works both ways, but only to a degree.
The difference is that if the Niners are wrong, they're going to have to find a WR somewhere else, but will undoubtedly struggle along without Crabby.
If Crabby's wrong, he will have cost himself MILLIONS of dollars.
Of course, per Dieon, he won't miss what he never had.
