As former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo prepares to be inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame, he has chimed in on the lingering contract impasse between the team and its unsigned first-round draft pick, receiver Michael Crabtree.
“You know me, I wouldn’t be pushed around by him,” DeBartolo recently told the San Francisco Chronicle. “If it keeps going a little longer, I’d tell him to go back in the draft. It’s different now. These kids are looking for other people’s money. I think they need Crabtree. I think they need him badly.”
The message, though a bit inconsistent, ultimately counsels the Niners to hold firm. And that’s important to know, since DeBartolo regularly counsels his twentysomething nephew, Jed York, who now calls the shots in San Fran.
So as the regular season continues to move toward the end of September and into October and with Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker to date unwilling to accept the invitation to met with York on a face-to-face basis and with a November 17 deadline looming for Crabtree to sign a contract or sit out the entire season, don’t be surprised if the 49ers eventually announce that they are abandoning all efforts to sign Crabtree, since that appears to be the advice Jed will soon be getting from his Uncle Ed.