The 49ers, Crabtree and tampering

Sparano is in the room, but not on the hotseat. Jeff Fisher - I doubt it. He is as popular as Elvis in those parts, and if they don't want him, the line starts here.

Once Deion Sanders said two teams were willing to pay Crabtree 40 million & he was aware of this , various talking heads have screamed that tampering charges should be filed . I don't know what made the 49ers file against the Jets , or if it is warranted , but it seems to be more than just a negotiation stance . Seeing as Deion works for the NFL network , can anyone say if he will be asked by the league to cooperate ?

BTW , I think Todd Haley is going to be a great head coach .

I'm not sure I agree with your assessment of the tampering charges. If the Jets assured Crabtree that he would not fall past them in the draft and assured him X dollars, then it' tampering that should be investigated and punished if true. Dion Sanders went on record to say there are two teams that are willing to pay Crartree 40 million, and it's now implied that the Jets are one of those team. If the jets did tell him that, it is directly inhibiting the 49ers to sign him and they should be punished with a lost of their first round pick and a fine.

No way Haley is on the hot seat. They signed Cassel to a big contract for Haley's system, it would make no sense to give up on that in or after the first year. The players, coach, GM, and even their fans know they are rebuilding and will be patient.

Yo Robert, the niners can trade Crabtree after March 5, when the new NFL year starts. The Jets might made him reluctant to sign, and told him that they'll give him 40 mil. Its still tampering, you miss the whole point. Research better.

I don't think that there necessarily is any backdoor offer by the Jets to Crabtree still in place. It makes no sense for the Jets. But suppose something happened back in August? It would still be tampering. Even if the Niners knew about it back then they may not have said anything publicly because they wanted to sign Crabtree. It would still be an improper action, and since Deion Sanders announced that other teams' offers were the justification for Crabtree holding out, if true then that would be ipso quo facto (excuse my Latin) proof of tampering.

That is, the tampering may not be the cause of the current impasse but if it happened the Niners, realizing that this is not going to get done, have thrown this into the public arena as an explanation for why negotiations have collapsed and as a way to embarrass Parker.

I'm getting the feeling that this is the end of the Niner-Crabtree negotiations. Eugene Parker has overplayed his hand and the Niners won't move from their position. When owner Jed York proposed a face-to-face meeting with Crabtree a week or so back, it was essentially an announcement that the Niners saw Parker as the problem. This tampering charge is a further attack on Parker's integrity and if there's any truth to it it will harm Parker in future negotiations with other teams with his other clients. Why draft a player represented by him and get all the grief and underhanded double-dealing?

In another week if nothing happens and you have Parker and Crabtree still refusing to meet face-to-face, Parker not moving from his position, you can expect that the Niners, who've probably already decided that Crabtree isn't worth the headaches, will start reducing the offer, making it impossible for Crabtree to swallow his pride and sign, meaning that he'll lose a year's worth of pay by sitting out all of 2009. He'll either be traded to someone next March (and it's hard to imagine that the contract a team will offer Crabtree in the future will be equal to the Niners' offer now) or go back into the draft, where he won't be anywhere near the top ten. Then he'll be someone else's headache.

I think that Parker believed he could use Crabtree to break the informal rookie slotting system and that the Niners would fold. He's lost and so has his client.

As nice as a good passing attack would be to complement the Niners' running game, there are plenty of good young receivers on the team who are playing tough Niner football by throwing blocks downfield. And as long as Shaun Hill is the QB the Niners' passing won't get very sophisticated or frequent. As much potential as Crabtree has, maybe the Niners have decided that they don't need him. Maybe this is their way of saying goodbye.

"[T]his complaint seems without merit."

---

Likewise Mr. Boland's initial opinion on this matter.

Unless certain parties choose to perjure themselves in any future deposition, it would be incumbent upon the "offending club" to prove such tampering was "unintentional."


Excerpted from Constitution and Bylaws of the National Football League

[ http://bit.ly/17uXRf ]

(begin excerpt)

Tampering (p.43)
9.2

If a member club or any officer, shareholder, director, partner, employee,
agent, or representative thereof or ***any person holding an interest in said
club shall tamper, negotiate with, or make an offer, directly or indirectly,
to a player, or his representative***, on the Active, Reserve, or ***Selection List***
of another member club, then ***unless the offending club shall clearly
prove to the Commissioner that such action was unintentional***,*** the
offending club, in addition to being subject to all other penalties provided
in the Constitution and Bylaws, shall lose its selection choice in the next
succeeding Selection Meeting in the same round in which the affected
player was originally selected in the Selection Meeting in which he was
originally chosen.*** If such affected player was never selected in any
Selection Meeting, the Commissioner shall determine the round in which
the offending club shall lose its selection choice. Additionally, if the
Commissioner decided such offense was intentional, the Commissioner
shall have the power to fine the offending club and may award the
offended club 50% of the amount of the fine imposed by the
Commissioner. In all such cases the offended club must first certify to the
Commissioner that such an offense has been committed.

(end excerpt)

I seem to have hit a major vein of folks bleeding red and gold. I am glad to know you are out there, I love the Bay Area and am pleased the Niners are off to a fast start. But for the 49ers to prove tampering they would most likely need some sort of documentary proof, an email or the testimony of a witness who said a team made an offer to either Crabtree or his agent, Eugene Parker or some other representative, who could be reasonable construed to be acting on Crabtree's behalf. I am not sure that is Deion Sanders in this case. Nor do his comments, stating a belief that he knows of at least two teams willing to pay Crabtree more add up "negotiate with, or make an offer, directly or indirectly, to a player, or his representative." Those comments may reflect a general knowledge of teams needing a player of Crabtree's ability. You can be absolutely sure Eugene Parker isn't going to saying anything to help the 49ers. Just as he would never hold a guy out a year off the unenforcible promise that he would be picked a year later. And Bob in Pacifica I actually think you have it right, and as I said, this seems to be the beginning of the 49ers playing hard ball. Saying to Parker we're making a take it or leave it offer and we will be happy with next year's draft and maybe a compensatory pick too. But we are moving on.

I'll leave the tampering to the other guys who seemed to have a better handle on it than Boland.

As for coaches on the hot seat, how could you leave out Jim zorn? His seat is sizzling right now, after an ugly 9-7 home win over woeful St. L that featured four TD-less trips inside the red zone. His honeymoon with the fans is officiallly over, punctuated by a locker room question from Skins legend Sonny Jurgenson about a particularly awful play call. It didn't help Zorn that one of his assistants had to grab his arm and physically prevent him from calling a timeout with too much time left on the clock. His "medium" cool demeanor is beginning to rub fans the wrong way, since it is easy to confuse with clueless and in over his head. Ssunday's game at Detrorit is shaping up as a must-win-big challenge for this underachcieving team.

The evidentiary "fact" of Crabtree's unsigned status clearly demonsrates harm against San Francisco's interests. The fact of Crabtree's unsigned status may be directly attributable to contact and/or the substance of such contact by and between the "offending club", the Selected Player or his representatives.

Sanders is irrelevant. If and only if the principals choose to perjure themselves under sworn testimony -- i.e., Crabtree: "It's not about money. It's their lack of fashion sense. I mean red and gold. Really!!!" Parker: "I fly by jet. But I've never met one." Tannenbaum: "MichaeI WHO?' -- could a credulous, compromised commissioner *demand* "documentary" evidence (which he did NOT demand nor receive in the Briggs case) to judge this case on merit, not to mention plain common sense.

I hadn't looked at it this way, but the tampering charges actually give Crabtree some additional leverage. His value to the Niners is going down every day, as things stand. But if he can substantiate a tampering charge, he might bring them a big windfall courtesy of the Jets. If he signs a rich deal with the Niners and then confirms tampering, it will put the Commish in a difficult spot.

I guess the 49er's should have checked with you before they filed the charges. You seem to have all the answers. Any communication between Agent Parker and the Jets about "the diva" constitues tampering.

Talk to someone who knows anything about anything before writing an article so full of misinformation about NFL rules and assuming that everyone but you acts so stupidly.

Suggesting that the Jets could not have "tampered" is absurd.

Is the author suggesting either


1) There is no possible communication from the Jets that could "improve" Crabtree's (or his agent's) expectations following a season-long hold-out?

or

2) That such expectations (optimism regarding his draft status following a season-long hold-out) will not affect Crabtree's (or his agent's) decision process for the current season.

Tampering charges without merit? This "blog" is totally without merit and a waste of anyone's time who is reading this garbage.

love how Boland assumes anyone who disagrees with this article is a sensitive (major vein) 49er fan instead of NFL fans who are just anti-money grubbing players and assume Crabtree falls within that description.

look, we all know Goodell grew up a Jets fan & chances are he's not ruling against them unless he has to b/c the evidence is public knowledge (Favre injury report). so chances are media guys like you & Chris Mortensen are going to look 'smart' for writing this off.

but it seems presumptuous to presume that there is "no merit" when you don't know what the evidence is.

in the Briggs case, the 49ers had tried to trade for Briggs and had reached out to his agent during those trade talks to get a feel for the type of contract that Briggs was interested in. Briggs was unable to reach a long term deal before July with the Bears and subsequently had to be franchised. the Bears argued that the preliminary talks with the 49ers caused them to be unable to reach a long term agreement with Briggs - and they won.

prior to Aug 14, maybe the Jets were working out contract parameters while discussing a trade. maybe it was an e-mail inferring that they'd "top that". and now Crabtree is holding out despite getting offered what you call a 9th slot deal.

using the Briggs case as an example, the inability to reach a long term deal (or in this case a hold out) despite a reasonable offer + talks with an agent which occurred during a period when those talks were allowed, might be enough to render a team guilty of tampering.

either way, it's one thing to say this sounds more like a negotiating ploy and another thing to write something off as without merit when you don't know what's going on. basically, people are calling you out on the fact that you "jumped to a conclusion" and then tried to defend yourself in the comments by insulting those who commented as 49er fans who were hit in a sore spot (with your major vein comment) - thereby jumping to another conclusion.

btw, as a Raider fan - DHB 1, Crabtree 0... yeah i know i'm reaching, just let me enjoy it while i can. oh well, at least i can take comfort in the fact that i should outlive Mr. Davis.

"........but how the Jets could have tampered with Crabtree now defies explanation."

This statement defies any rational, unbiased examination of the facts....... except that perhaps Robert Boland is biased? Does he not work at New York University? Could there be a link to his view here?

Just a thought. No proof, but then again, there was no documented "proof" when the 49ers were found guilty of tampering with Briggs. The league still found them guilty.