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Last two draft holdouts far, far away from signing

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John Czarnecki

John Czarnecki has been the editorial consultant for "FOX NFL Sunday" since its 1994 inception. This season marks Czarnecki's 32nd year covering the NFL. He is one of 44 selectors to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Updated Aug 27, 2009 12:40 PM ET
     
 
OK, raise your hands if you are shocked that Michael Crabtree is holding out.
You're right. It figured. The one player who turned off more than half the league during his NFL Combine visits — diva was the buzzword — dropped from his lofty perch as definitely a top-five player, athletically, to not even being the first wide receiver taken in last April's draft. And, typical of his brashness, Crabtree now wants as much or more money than the Raiders paid Darrius Heyward-Bey, the receiver taken three spots ahead of him by Raiders owner Al Davis. It's been four weeks now into the holdout process for both Texas Tech's Crabtree and Alabama offensive tackle Andre Smith, who was selected sixth overall by the Cincinnati Bengals. In both situations, there is absolutely nothing that the respective head coaches, Mike Singletary in San Francisco and Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati, can do to resolve the situation, no matter how much they were counting on both players starting this season. Why is that? Well, holdouts are decided by two things. 1. The owner doesn't care The owner in the Smith case would be Bengals owner Mike Brown. In stealing a line from a Cincinnati columnist, Brown's team can't win a Super Bowl, so his personal "Super Bowl" is winning the negotiation with his first-round picks. Fifteen years ago, Brown refused to make a deal with first-rounder Ricky Hunley and ended up trading his rights to Denver. Holdouts are a common occurrence in Cincinnati; there have been at least four serious ones this decade. So Smith figured to be sitting at home putting on pounds for three reasons. One, Brown has his own salary-cap values. Two, the Jets grossly over-paid the sixth slot last season with disappointing pass rusher Vernon Gholston and, three, Smith is represented by Alvin Keels, who is negotiating for just the second time in the first round. Like Jacksonville waiting too long last summer, Brown and the Bengals probably should have been more proactive. Teams, like agents, can make mistakes. The Bengals had to know that Mark Sanchez (the fifth pick) was going to receive a good deal from the Jets and Mike Brown knows, based on Al's recent contract history, that the Raiders probably would give their selection a very sweet contract. Why get sandwiched between these two clubs? Brown should have struck first and maybe Smith would have taken a deal. Now, Brown doesn't even want to pay Smith, who was taken ahead of Heyward-Bey, the same deal the Raiders gave. And unsure of himself, Keels opted to wait to see who signed around him. Keels, by the way, was in Cincinnati over the weekend and left the city without a deal. He and the Bengals are between $7 and $10 million apart. Crabtree and the 49ers are in the same deficit ballpark with both sides refusing to budge. However, Crabtree's situation falls under the second routine holdout criteria. 2. The player's demands are so ridiculous that ownership can't budge because it goes against every financial tenet of the club's negotiating rationale. For some perspective, considering most of the money paid to the top draft choices seems out of whack by NFL veteran standards, the general increase over the slot this season compared to 2008 was around 10 percent. The Raiders bounced it up to a 20 percent increase in guaranteed money and also 20 percent in the overall package. With a player-friendly contract, Heyward-Bey received $23.5 in guaranteed money and a five-year deal worth $38.25. The ninth pick, B.J. Raji of Green Bay, or the player taken ahead of Crabtree, accepted $18 million in guaranteed money. Based on the so-called slotting system, Crabtree should receive less that $18 million, right? The 49ers might even give him the same deal as Raji or more, but they will never give him Oakland's deal. I've even heard that some management people in the 49ers would quit if owner Jed York decides to cave to Crabtree's demands. Crabtree's agent, Eugene Parker, a veteran of first-round contracts, started negotiations at a ridiculously high end — a non-starter for the 49ers — and now his client is being influenced by a family friend who is a bail bondsman by trade. That may sound typical of Crabtree, but it's no laughing matter to Parker or the 49ers. Yes, there were several teams in the top 10 of this year's draft who didn't draft Crabtree, fearing his attitude and personality was headed toward a holdout. However, in talking with one such general manager who passed on Crabtree, there are some illuminating thoughts and perspective. "To me, the Crabtree situation is all about the player," he said. "I think Eugene would do a deal and get a pretty good deal, and I think it is fairly well accepted by most agents around that spot that Crabtree may get a better deal than most given the circumstance. And Eugene would be better off not arguing about Heyward-Bey's deal, it is irrelevant to him. "In the draft, what matters is the draft slot, not the player or position picked. You don't see Crabtree saying he has to get as much as Eugene Monroe do you? He just wants to use Heyward-Bey because it was a strong deal and because Heyward-Bey has struggled so far in training camp. But how can a team ever let a player dictate what they get paid? Say the 49ers let Crabtree win this. What happens next year when (Texas quarterback) Colt McCoy falls to the 24th spot and the 49ers draft him after winning the division and he asks for as much as (the first QB picked) because he thinks he is as good, and the difference is $40 million, not $10 million?" Yes, precedent is very important whenever dealing with a high draft pick. To lessen these headaches, Commissioner Roger Goodell most likely will push for a NBA-like slotting system for draft picks in his pending collective bargaining agreement talks with the union, believing that salary-cap money should be spent on proven NFL veterans. Yes, the big-time agents are against this formula of a rookie wage scale and the NFLPA always listens to the top agents. Yes, the rookie wage scale surely would be financially beneficial for any team drafting in the top 10. However, many teams love the current system, which ties up a young player for five or six seasons at a reasonable wage in the rest of the draft. That's the fascinating part to the current system. If a rookie wage scale becomes a deal breaker, the owners must be flexible to allow shorter contracts to the rookies, thus allowing a great rookie (for example Atlanta's Matt Ryan last season) to negotiate a better contract or become a free agent after three seasons. Ryan and his agent, Tom Condon, would say after only one season! But in looking at the first round picks again, it makes perfect sense that these two would be the last two unsigned rookies.
Tagged: B.J. Raji, Chiefs, Michael Crabtree, Raiders, Vernon Gholston, Falcons, Mark Sanchez, Jets, Bengals, Andre Smith, Mike Brown, 49ers, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Matt Ryan, Eugene Monroe, Jaguars, Packers

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