Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree says the 49ers wanted him to stay so badly that they made him the most lucrative free-agent offer he got. But Crabtree turned it down.
“A lot of people don’t know that the Niners offered me a contract, I just didn’t take it,” Crabtree told the San Francisco Chronicle. “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 hinted that part of his decision was a preference to play with Derek Carr instead of Colin Kaepernick.
“I needed new scenery. It wasn’t for me,” Crabtree said. “I needed a quarterback that can deliver the ball, and that was hungry like I was.”
Those comments won’t be received well by the 49ers, but in an offseason that saw a mass exodus from San Francisco, Crabtree was one of the many players who decided to leave.
