First-round draft pick Michael Crabtree has finally ended his long holdout and signed a six-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers.
49ers finally get their man as Crabtree ends contract holdout
Contract holdout Michael Crabtree has finally come to an agreement with the San Francisco 49ers, with the first round draft pick signing a six-year deal with the team.
Former Texas Tech wide receiver Crabtree was the tenth overall pick in April's draft, but had shunned the best offer from the Niners of a five-year deal reportedly worth $20 million.
However, noises had been made over the last few days that a deal was in the offing, and the player and agent Eugene Parker finally brokered a deal in the early hours of Wednesday after talks with several San Francisco officials.
The 22-year-old has now signed a six-year deal, which can be reduced to five years if he meets several performance-related bonuses. The new deal is believed to be worth $32 million with $17 million in guaranteed earnings.
"It's a lot of relief off my shoulders," Crabtree said as he was introduced to the media as a San Francisco player.
Agreement
"Everybody came to a reachable agreement and it happened. I'm just glad I'm past that part. I'm very humble right now, man, it's a very humbling experience.
"Just getting a chance to sit back and better myself as a person, as a player, as a team-mate. I feel like going through that it made me look at the world in a different way, look at my team-mates a different way. Hopefully it will work out for the best."
Crabtree was a record-setting college receiver with the Red Raiders, and he was fancied to go higher in the draft than tenth - a point which led to him being unhappy with the initial contract offer.
His speed and big play ability will be an asset sorely lacking in Mike Singletary's run-first team, although they have made their best start since 2002 after going 3-1 to top the NFC West.
After missing four games already and all of pre-season training camp, Crabtree may take some time to get up to speed, but if he can reproduce anything like his college form in the NFL then the 49ers will have a real offensive weapon to add to their powerful run game.
Delight
Singletary was delighted to finally have his first round pick available, and he said he could make his debut in two weeks' time at Houston, with the 49ers on a bye week next week.
"This is a great day for the 49ers," said the head coach. "It showed the commitment in place in having Crabtree here. Obviously Michael missed a lot of time, a lot of valuable time, and has a lot of work to catch up.
"It's going to be a process. Hopefully after the bye, Mike will be ready to go. Certainly it's going to start small, a small role here and there, figuring out ways to get him on the field."
Crabtree had 19 touchdowns from 97 catches and 1,165 yards during his sophomore season at Texas Tech, while he totaled 41 TDs and 3,127 yards from 231 college career catches.
San Francisco had until November 17 to sign Crabtree for him to be eligable to play this season, but it looks like he will now get a crack at the NFL this year.
