Crab-Apple

Yahoo - Normally, the unpredictable football decisions of Al Davis adversely affect only the team he owns, the bumbling Oakland Raiders.

The NFL’s other 31 teams often benefit from his strange personnel moves, which allow talented draft picks and free agents to slide to them.

In April, the cross-bay San Francisco 49ers rejoiced when the Raiders selected wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey seventh overall. It allowed the Niners to select Michael Crabtree, a pass-catching machine out of Texas Tech, at No. 10. Predraft hype rated Crabtree higher than Heyward-Bey.

Now the Niners’ dream pick has turned nightmare. In a convoluted strategy, Crabtree is threatening to sit out the 2009 season by negotiating off mock drafts which didn’t occur rather than the real one that did.

Crabtree has decided that he shouldn’t have to be paid less because – based on all the made-up, predicted drafts – Al Davis made a mistake. He wants to be paid more than Heyward-Bey, demanding his contract reflect that it was actually he who was the higher selected receiver.
It’s a ground-breaking, if intellectually bankrupt, concept.

Crabtree’s camp said Thursday that he is even willing to sit out the year and re-enter the draft next spring unless he gets more than the $23.5 million the Raiders guaranteed Heyward-Bey. The news was first reported by profootballtalk.com. Anything less than that stratospheric number is “unacceptable.”

“We are prepared to do it,” David Wells, a cousin of Crabtree, told ESPN. “Michael just wants fair market value. Michael is one of the best players in the draft, and he just wants to be paid like one of the best players.”

The ridiculousness of a guy who’s never caught a professional pass deeming $20-something million “unacceptable” is a testament to the troublesome way the NFL pays its rookies. A sense of youthful entitlement combines with a flawed structure so that the unproven rookie often makes more than the veteran All-Pro.

While NFL players tend to earn their money – a disturbing percentage leave the game as near-cripples dealing with neurological problems – Crabtree would be best served getting to camp and focusing on the tens of millions he will earn rather than the few more he may not.

More intriguing, however, is what Crabtree is trying to pull. Contract negotiations and holdout threats aren’t new. This is. It isn’t just an unorthodox attempt to bypass the traditional (if unofficial) slotting of rookie salaries. It’s putting real value on the unreal speculation that surrounds the buildup to the draft.

Crabtree is trying to get paid off perception, not reality.

Who the hell does this guy think he is? Michael, you do realize this country is in economic hardships, right? You do realize that you have not played one friggin' down in the NFL, right? You do realize that you also came from a pass happy wide open system that racked up your stats, right? You do realize that there is no way in hell any NFL owner is going to be bullied by some rook who hasn't done shit yet, right?

Oh, and Mr. Crabtree, um, have you not realized who your coach is yet?

Plain and simple is your were drafted in the spot you were drafted. Mel Kiper Jr and his helmet hair doesn't know shit. Its called a "Mock Draft" for a reason, Michael. Justifying being paid as a top 5 pick when you were a #10 pick because bloggers and mock drafts had you higher. No matter how many these "draft experts" these people talk to or how much insight they have, they are really just guesstimating.

Just sign for your "measly" 10 million and prove you are worth more through your play on the field.

(Gonna be tough to throw it to you when your ass is sitting home, you greedy bastard)