Wide receiver Michael Crabtree spent the first six years of his career with the 49ers after they drafted him 10th overall in 2009. His time in San Francisco was somewhat underwhelming, given his production at Texas Tech and draft status, as he eclipsed the 1,000-yard plateau just once and never racked up double-digit touchdowns in a season. Crabtree stayed in the Bay Area and signed with Oakland during the offseason, but he told Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle that the 49ers wanted him back. The feeling wasn’t mutual.
“A lot of people don’t know that the Niners offered me a contract, I just didn’t take it,” the 27-year-old said. “I wanted a fresh start. It was more money too — the Niners offered me more money than anybody did — but business is business and I wanted to come to a team that really wanted and needed me.”
Crabtree then took a shot at 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, saying, “I needed a quarterback that can deliver the ball, and that was hungry like I was.”
More from the NFC:
- Robert Griffin III‘s abrupt fall from grace continues. The former second overall pick and 2012 Offensive Rookie of the Year will enter the season as Washington‘s third-string quarterback, according to Tom Pelissero of USA Today. He’s behind Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy on the depth chart.
- The NFL and the NFL Players Association could be in the early stages of a spat centering on Saints running back Khiry Robinson, writes Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. The Saints fined Robinson for a training camp altercation with an intern and then reported it to the league, which is proper protocol. The league then violated protocol by interviewing Robinson about the incident without a union rep present. The NFLPA is now investigating.
- Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor has taken quite a financial hit so far during his holdout, per Florio. Chancellor will lose his game check ($267,941.17) for not playing in Sunday’s opener, bringing his money lost total to $1.87MM. That amount will continue adding up as long as he stays away from the team.
- With Devin Hester out for the Falcons’ Monday opener because of injury, D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution expects Eric Weems to handle the team’s return duties (Twitter link).
Crabtree is ah little baby..I knew it after he held out on his rookie contract! Glad he went to the Raiders & I’m sure the 9ers didn’t offer him more money after that pitiful 2014 campaign!
meh, the Raiders got him on the cheap. we’ll see what happens when a QB with actual skill is throwing him the ball.
What a joke,this guy couldn’t run a route,couldn’t separate couldnt go up for the ball with a defender on him…only thing he did decent was block and that was average…go to oakland where all the washed up 9ers go..
Really? you don’t look at advanced stats at all i’m guessing. Crabtree’s separation rate was among the highest of ANY WR in the NFL. go look it up yourself. Kaep is just that bad of a QB at going through his progressions. he’s had two awful QB’s his whole career so can you blame him for not getting his annual 1000/10 ? anybody that knows football doesn’t blame him not one bit.
He’s right. Carr over Kaepernick any day of the week. Smart decision
When Carr turns out to be his brother, you’ll change your mind. We don’t need cry babies on the team. Kaep is better!
Craptree sucks really bad the only good season he had was with kaep before his Achilles injury I’m happy he’s not there anymore.
9ers offered you a contract, you declined it then found out nobody wanted you. Then you had no choice but to sign the only deal that was offered which was less money than the 9ers originally offered but the 9ers had already signed smith and the offer was off the table. Thats the reason the Niners offered more money. Good try though buddy. The Niners weren’t bidding for you with more money.