The San Francisco 49ers have 14 potential unrestricted free agents who will hit the market when the new league year begins March 10. Let’s continue our countdown with a receiver who was supposed to be a game-changer.
The No. 10 overall pick out of Texas Tech in 2010 was drafted as damaged goods, injuring his foot after becoming the first two-time winner of the Biletnikoff Award as college football’s best receiver. Physical maladies have continued to slow him in recent years.
49ers career: Crabtree might not have been the game-changer the Niners envisioned when they selected him, but he has caught a pass in all 79 games in which he has played, accumulating 347 receptions for 4,327 yards and 26 TDs. His best season was in 2012, when he caught 85 passes for 1,105 yards and nine touchdowns, becoming the first 1,000-yard receiver for the Niners since Terrell Owens in 2003. He had a pair of 100-yard receiving games in the 2012 postseason as the Niners advanced to Super Bowl XLVII. With that game on the line, he targeted three times from the Baltimore Ravens’ 5-yard line, with no success. He missed all but five games in 2013 with an Achilles’ injury and suffered a down season last year, averaging a career-low 10.3 yards per catch.
Argument for keeping Crabtree: Is there a better option for a veteran receiver on the free-agent market? Still thinking? Then the answer should be to re-up Crabtree. Yes, he had an extremely down season, but he was dealing with a foot issue and still gutted his way through 16 games. He is still only 27 years old and still someone defenses have to focus on. While he is not a burner, he complements Anquan Boldin well. He still has something to prove to the 49ers, even after Niners QBs had a 91.1 passer rating when throwing to him last season.
Argument for letting Crabtree walk: Crabtree has already left mentally. He removed all references to the 49ers from his Twitter page. And even when he did have a key play this past year -- his 51-yard catch on 4th-and-10 at New Orleans saved the game for the Niners -- he was not content, calling himself a “third-down receiver” and a “fourth option” pass catcher. If he is not happy to return -- he was very non-committal at the end of the season -- why would the Niners want Colin Kaepernick's former favorite receiver potentially distrupting that locker room?
A bold prediction: Crabtree packs up his Imelda Marcos-like shoe collection and heads off for what he believes are greener pastures. Dallas or Arizona, perhaps?
