Every sport has its share of athletes dissatisfied with their contracts or roles with a team, and those willing to sit out games or a season at the expense of their team. Interestingly enough, we see it happening with a rookie this season in football.
This may seem shocking and arrogant and frankly, it is. Some of it isn't his fault, though, and it really all starts with Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders. Davis hasn't done anything right lately, and in this year's NFL draft, he took WR Darrius Heyward-Bey with the 7th overall pick, three spots ahead of Michael Crabtree.
Ok, so Heyward-Bey is EXTREMELY fast. Big deal. Lots of WR's are extremely fast. But Crabtree won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the NCAA's best WR, not once, but TWICE in his two years at Texas Tech, becoming the only player in NCAA history to do so. He was easily considered to be the #1 WR heading into the draft, but he fell to #10 to the 49ers, ultimately being the 2nd WR chosen in the draft.
That was Al Davis' first mistake of the off-season. He soon made another costly (no pun intended) mistake by dishing out $38.25 million for Heyward-Bey, a colossal amount of money. So now we go to Crabtree, who not only feels as though he should've been drafted ahead of Heyward-Bey, which he should've, but who also feels he should be getting paid more than him, which isn't going to happen.
With the 49ers seemingly willing to let Crabtree sit out this year and re-enter the draft next year, they are not only dramatically hurting whatever slim chances they had for this year, but Crabtree's NFL future is being threatened. I mean, he's a great WR, but he won't be seeing any NFL-caliber action for a whole year. Who knows what kind of impact that will have on his skills and attitude?
Why are rookies getting $38 million to begin with? Someone who hasn't even caught a ball on the professional football field must prove himself first, as many athletes are required to do in other sports. There's no reason that Davis should have given so much money to someone who's never played a game in the league.
Crabtree is in fact better than Heyward-Bey, but this doesn't mean that he, too, deserves $38 million or more. Crabtree should be thrilled with any contract valued at 7 or 8 figures, as most NFL players with established careers would jump on the opportunity to secure such a contract.
Frankly, Crabtree should sign the "modest" contract that the 49ers are offering, and if he's really that good, he'll be able to sign a new contract in a few years and be one of the highest paid players in the NFL.
This may seem shocking and arrogant and frankly, it is. Some of it isn't his fault, though, and it really all starts with Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders. Davis hasn't done anything right lately, and in this year's NFL draft, he took WR Darrius Heyward-Bey with the 7th overall pick, three spots ahead of Michael Crabtree.
Ok, so Heyward-Bey is EXTREMELY fast. Big deal. Lots of WR's are extremely fast. But Crabtree won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the NCAA's best WR, not once, but TWICE in his two years at Texas Tech, becoming the only player in NCAA history to do so. He was easily considered to be the #1 WR heading into the draft, but he fell to #10 to the 49ers, ultimately being the 2nd WR chosen in the draft.
That was Al Davis' first mistake of the off-season. He soon made another costly (no pun intended) mistake by dishing out $38.25 million for Heyward-Bey, a colossal amount of money. So now we go to Crabtree, who not only feels as though he should've been drafted ahead of Heyward-Bey, which he should've, but who also feels he should be getting paid more than him, which isn't going to happen.
With the 49ers seemingly willing to let Crabtree sit out this year and re-enter the draft next year, they are not only dramatically hurting whatever slim chances they had for this year, but Crabtree's NFL future is being threatened. I mean, he's a great WR, but he won't be seeing any NFL-caliber action for a whole year. Who knows what kind of impact that will have on his skills and attitude?
Why are rookies getting $38 million to begin with? Someone who hasn't even caught a ball on the professional football field must prove himself first, as many athletes are required to do in other sports. There's no reason that Davis should have given so much money to someone who's never played a game in the league.
Crabtree is in fact better than Heyward-Bey, but this doesn't mean that he, too, deserves $38 million or more. Crabtree should be thrilled with any contract valued at 7 or 8 figures, as most NFL players with established careers would jump on the opportunity to secure such a contract.
Frankly, Crabtree should sign the "modest" contract that the 49ers are offering, and if he's really that good, he'll be able to sign a new contract in a few years and be one of the highest paid players in the NFL.
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