Eugene Parker Nemesis
by Sam Monson
9/8/2009
Last season the Diner wrote a piece about the new Super-Agent on the block Eugene Parker after he negotiated a sensational new contract for star WR Larry Fitzgerald that would see him hit the Free Agency market again just 4 years later, at the age of 28.
Now Parker's at it again, with another star WR client 49ers #1 draft pick, Michael Crabtree.
Crabtree was an All-World receiver at Texas Tech. Posting astounding numbers in his brief career for the Red Raiders, at the age of 21 he chose to declare for the NFL Draft, with 3,127 yards and 41 touchdowns to his name in just 2 seasons.
Texas Tech have long operated a wide open 'Air Raid' offense which inflates the numbers of their receivers and yet even so Crabtree was always special. Wide outs in the Red Raiders offense have always been containable during the team's practices but when Crabtree arrived on campus they realised he was different they couldn't shut him down. He went on to dominate the Big XII and became one of the best WR prospects since Randy Moss.
Already a star, Crabtree immortalised himself with a last second touchdown catch to knock off Texas on national television. He was seen as a certain top 5 pick when he declared for the NFL Draft.
He was then diagnosed with a stress fracture in his foot, which would prevent him from running a 40 time before the Draft. This for a WR whose only concern was straight-line speed was enough to make a few people twitchy before the draft. There were also some growing concerns surrounding his potential to develop a Diva like attitude.
The Oakland Raiders confounded the world when they chose Darrius Heyward-Bey with the 7th overall pick, and the 49ers quickly snapped up Michael Crabtree with the 10th pick, amazed at their good fortune. Unfortunately they hadn't reckoned with Eugene Parker.
Traditionally the contracts awarded to draftees work along a simple, logical, yet uncodified system. The #1 overall pick gets more than the #2 pick, who gets more than the #3 pick and so on down the round. Each pick also gets a bit more than the same pick from the year before, to account for inflation as it were. There is always the odd exception, a guy who's deal is a little better or a little worse than his slot, but by and large rookie contracts have stuck to this principle for years. Maybe not this year
Since the draft, reports have been swirling about Crabtree demanding top 5 money instead of the contract that would normally be given to the 10th overall pick. Crabtree believes that he was amongst the most talented prospects in the draft, and an injury that he couldn't control, as well as a crazy move from Al Davis, caused him to fall further than he should. He is arguing that the 49ers should pay him like the prospect he is, not like the slot he fell to.
Now there's talk that Crabtree will sit out the 2009 NFL season and re-enter the draft next year if the 49ers don't give him what he wants. Eugene Parker is once again going for the jugular. Rookie contracts have been getting ever more expensive over the last 20 years, to the point where the #1 overall pick is seen by many to be a poisoned chalice. You get your pick of all the available college talent, and if you have that pick you almost certainly desperately need it, but you're tied into paying that guy like the best players in the league, before they've even taken a snap. If that guy busts it could set the franchise back years, as well as pour a lot of money straight down the drain.
With the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in chaos and the NFL's salary cap in jeopardy, Parker senses a unique opportunity to torpedo the slotting system that has worked for years, and get his client a deal way out of proportion with the rest of the draft class. If he can get Crabtree a ludicrous deal the NFL would doubtless act to codify the process and introduce some kind of rookie salary cap so as to prevent a chaotic free for all in future years, but of course that wouldn't matter for this deal, which would be done, dusted and earning interest in a bank account! For Crabtree it would be the perfect crime.
Crabtree is also in a pretty unique position to be able sit out the season and re-enter the NFL draft. He's young, only 21 at the time of writing. He's one of the best receiver prospects for years, and would almost certainly be the best receiver available next season. Finally he would be able to do all the workouts to address any concerns about his speed that existed this season with more than 9 months training specifically in these events to put up mind-boggling numbers.
The 49ers are in a tough spot. Strictly speaking they don't need Crabtree. Josh Morgan and Jason Hill are both young receivers who showed talent last season, and Isaac Bruce is a fine mentor for them both, but it's an incredible test of wills to play chicken with a #10 overall pick, one of the best receiver prospects in a decade, with the risk that he will sit out the season rather than sign with you and re-enter the Draft the next year, all for the sake of some extra money.
For the NFL, who have allowed the issue of rookie contracts to fester without addressing it, it could take one huge nightmare to force them to act. Parker is trying to make sure his client is the guy who gets the deal so outrageous that it brings down the whole system, and Crabtree seems to be the player with the ego to chase that deal. The two parties are playing a dangerous game of chicken now, we get to see who blinks first.
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