Originally posted by WINiner:
Originally posted by KRS-1:
Originally posted by Shorteous:
Originally posted by KRS-1:
Originally posted by Esco:
Originally posted by KRS-1:
So where are the guys who did not want Crabtree on this team ?
Originally posted by RDB4216:
I guess I'll be in the minority here, and say I am NOT happy about this signing. Especially the timing of it. IF the NFL was going to actually do anything over the tampering accusations, our best bet to get someting done - and the best chance to maximize the penalty against the Jets (and compensation for us!) was when Crabtree wasn't signed and it looked like we were going to lose the pic altogether.
I was really hoping we wouldn't even consider signing him until after the NFL ruled. Now they will just look at it as "Oh well, so he missed out on a few months of a 5-year contract". Stupid move.
I'm talking about all those who went off in the Crabtree discussion threads who did not want his "greedy, selfish, diva, no passion for football ass". Those who went off and called him every name in the book, those who said he did not want to play here.
They are there, but you really can't polarize general board sentiment as your opposition in the Crabtree saga. That's very disingenuous to the debate, something you and MD did a lot.
Personally I wanted Crabtree on this team, but thought it was absolutely ridicules to even contemplate giving him a 100% raise between the 2008 10th slot and 2009 10th slot. The reported asking price was ridicules and wasn't even worth mentioning in the same breath of the others who got contracts outside of the slotted system.
I'm elated he's actually on this team as i'm sure most are, but that doesn't mean there is unyielding love for him. He has even more pressure to become the type of player we are expecting and to carry the type of attitude he should.
in general, lets celebrate this signing before we get back into the egotistical attitude that runs ramped through some vets.
No my stance was that the 49ers needed to be more aggressive in their negotiations. I never said give him a 100% raise but I knew that if the initial offer was not going to cut it then the 49ers needed to (as MD said) think outside the box.
It was quite obvious how our very own GM felt about this kid and with that in mind Scot needed to find a way to get him under contract and not lose him to the 2010 draft or via trade seeing as his feelings were very strong and it would reflect somewhat negatively on our team in the future with other agents for being unwilling to negotiate or think outside said box especially when you speak highly of a players talent, potential and abilities.
I was against those who wanted to give up on trying to get a deal done and those who wanted to berate his character when Crabtree or his agent had never spoken on the matter. Meanwhile a good number of people were adamant in not signing him and waiting until March to trade him. Their whole stance was based off of what "sources were saying", so basically rumors and heresay which is not fact. No one really knew what was truly going on but they assumed they did.
One team calls him a Diva and he has a holdout in his rookie season and everyone is ready to label him a Diva when in fact our own GM did not believe him to be a Diva after meeting with him on 2 occasions pre-draft. As for being greedy and selfish no one knew exactly what he wanted financially, again there was only heresay and rumors from sources as to what those demands were so to say he was indeed greedy is unfair. Barry Sanders was never called a Diva or greedy or selfish but he held out in his rookie season (in total he held out 3 times due to contract negotiations). To question his heart and desire was also unfair. It's a business and all reports from those who knew Crabtree said he had a huge passion for the game and desire to play and that dates back to being redshirted his freshman year as it has been documented by his coaches at TT about his heartfelt disappointment of not being able to play that year. There is no actual proof pointing to the opposite. People need to learn to separate the business side of this sport now from the actual game.
It was not the general board sentiment nor did I ever say or imply that (I implied those who did not want him and used those do not want words as reasons why, not those who used those reasons why he did not deserve a unique contract) but it was that of some members. Those are the ones I am interested in hearing from although I am not expecting everyone to forgive and forget. However do they still feel the way they do now, because many if not most of those felt completely different back on draft day.
You and MD can act as high and mighty as you like, but sometimes when you place yourself in the public light, and expect to make money based on how the public perceives you, perception is reality.
All the hatred and the character assination could have been avoided had they made an effort to meet with the team, let those efforts be known, instead of weeks of no contact, including shunning an invitation from the acting team president for 2+ weeks.
I did not talk trash about Crabtree during this whole thing, however I completely understand why people's emotions got the best of them and why some people STILL have bad feelings toward the guy.
What I find funny is how you and Mr. Contradiction acted all high and mighty and were willing to understand Crabtree and his team while critisizing the Niners even in light of NO info at all from his camp one way or the other, yet you weren't willing to understand the fans you interact with everyday, and their point of view.
Fan is short for Fanatic. What the hell else reaction could anybody expect from a fanbase. Some of us view the Niners as an integral part of our lives, and a psuedo family of sorts. If someone bad mouths your family, you get angry and take the family side until the point it is proven that the family was wrong. In this case there was no proo so your high and mighty attitudes were not only hippocritical, but unwarranted. Anyone who expected the majority of our fanbase to react any different is full of themselves or completely unrealistic.
The public's perception of who Crabtree was as a person was not and is not reality. This is where you are wrong, it was not just the public who perceived Crabtree to be one of if not the best player in this draft class. Scot Mccloughan was on record, not to mention a lot of other former NFL players and employees people who have made their living from football perceived him to be what the public agreed he was.
As for who he was a person, again our own GM never believed him to be a Diva like the Browns claimed. Those who knew Crabtree on a personal level were also able to stand up and say the same things Scot said and Singletary solidified the fact yesterday calling him a player of character and wanting players like Crabtree on his team.
It's people's emotions that got in the way of seeing things for what they were, a business negotiation in a sport where the business is now as important as the game itself.
Brandt likely had it right when he said that when there were no talks between the 2 sides it's probably because Eugene Parker decided to quit talking to the team until there was something new to talk about. Remember Jed claimed Parker and Paraag were talking nearly everyday at one point.
Why would we not see Crabtree and Parker's side of things ? When looking at any situation if one wants to pass a fair judgement then one will look at it from all angles and aspects. And it's funny that you bring up family because Crabtree was a member of this family as well at that time (and still is a member of this family) so giving the family member (Crabtree) the benefit of the doubt was only fair seeing as we did not know what was going on with him. He never chose to go to the media, he and his agent remained professional meanwhile nearly everyone flocked to the 49ers side of things based off of so-called "insider league sources" which provided us with a bunch of heresay and rumors but no actual facts because the 49ers themselves never went public either through this negotiation. They remained professional in their approach themselves.
So basically we have everyone perceiving their reality off of unsubstantiated claims. Unfair to assassinate and berate someone's character off of that.
As for being high and mighty and contradictory you may want to go back and read what a lot of those posters were saying during this holdout and compare them to what they are saying now (and when we learned the two sides were going to meet and renew negotiations) and what they said when Crabtree was drafted. Go back and look at how they were responding to someone looking at the glass as half full instead of half empty. The pot was trying to call the kettle black many of times. The fans were being unwilling to understand Crabtree's point of view, the only one they wanted to understand was the one they perceived off of what the league insiders were leaking.