Hey Matt,
Saw you on ESPN this morning. You going all beard this season? The woman butchered your name this morning BTW on the 9:50 slot.

In the last 6 or 7 years, I can't ever remember being this excited for the start of the Niners season.

It's refreshing to hear Hill's comparison of this year’s offense versus last years. By the way they spoke about the offense last year you could tell that they (Hill and Smith) weren't entirely comfortable with the system.

And I can not BELIEVE they didn't have audibles last year. I'm no offensive guru, but what kind of arcane offensive system did Martz install??? Just the year before that there were no hot routes, yeesh!

Oneniner - look what two players have been spending some quality time together, I'm certain this will fire you up:

SINGELTARY discussing Crabtree: "He’s been working his tail off after the OTAs. He’s been out here. He’s been catching passes from Alex Smith. They’ve been working together, they’ve been studying, they’ve been watching film, been running routes. He’s doing all the things he has to do."

Its a playoff beard! I can't wait.

.... Niceeeeee..

...Yes, Yes, Yes ....Just exactly what I needed to hear.....

Finally A.Smith has the tools......

Stampede, a lot of modern spread offenses actually don't have audibles, but instead built-in reads. As a coach, my only problem would be disallowing my quarterback to check into a run play if the defense is giving a certain look, but I would assume that there are coaches in the box watching substitutions in order to predict the front that the offense will see.

Color me schooled Big M.

But aren't spread style offenses less common in the pro's than say a west coast style offense? So if you're a team with a spread style system, wouldn't it be to your benefit to have adjustable plays via audibles, or "checks?"

Again, I'm no guru, but you gotta believe that even spread style offenses in the pro's have some sort of contingency. And for Martz to not have or allow any for the Niners was just ridiculous, in my uneducated opinion.

I can't wait for the Crabtree affair to be over so we can get on to the next thing to worry about!!
The new football seasons are like women. It's not that it's any better...just different!

A couple of thoughts:

I know this is a small point but I don't think Sing ought to be relating his personal experience as a holdout. He's the head coach and his words carry weight. To me, he's almost giving the agent some ammunition in negotiations and probably more importantly he's taking the pressure off Crabs to make sure his agent gets him into camp.

I really, really, really liked this line from Hill, "Less volume and more perfection". I was not enamored with the Raye hire but I take this approach as being a major step in the right direction.

Lastly, condolensces to the family of Jim Johnson. That man was one helluva coach.

So what's Sing suppose to say in that situation Houston? And really do you think that what Sing said is actually going to give some leverage to the agent? Wow...okay I actually liked Sing's honesty in saying he held out. All it means is that he was a player & he understands the process, if he were to say something completely negative then he's going to feel like a hypocrite & that is something Sing is not or ever could be. Is it just me or is it the more Houston posts the more credibility he loses because it seems like he's running down hill very fast in that dept.

...looking at the video below....A. Smith looks more polished than Hill...

I am so excited A.Smith is ready to go...

http://www.49ers.com/media-gallery/videos/rookies-and-quarterbacks-report-for-camp/c4eea1d5-5f3d-46c4-a5f5-4d37279e6100

...condolensces to the eagles and the family of Jim Johnson.....

...that was one coach i respected alot....

WOW!!!! I had credibility? Awesome!

As I said, it's a small point - as in not really a big deal, as in a minor reaction on my part. I just don't think the boss should be condoning a holdout when he has a player he wants in camp. Once the player is signed he can welcome him back and let him know he understands the business side of things since he went thru the same thing. At this juncture, Sing should simply say they are making every effort to sign the player and his point of view is somewhat different as a coach than when he was a player.

The season hasn't even started, but I am starting to get a real bad feeling about Crabtree. Has one positive thing been said about this guy since the Niners picked him? Regardless, the team has a much more pressing issue to deal with: picking a starting QB.

Uh, he works hard?

I think its way too soon for us to go this negative on Crabtree. Given how few #1s above & below him have signed so far it just has to play out. Yeah, he needs the work and needs to bond with teammates. No, he shouldn't get paid like a 3rd overall choice, but it might not be fair to think of him as a bad attitude guy.
Maybe this validates drafting BPA.....the Team moves forward getting ready for the season and the FNG has to prove he can contribute.

Condoning Houston...really?

Where in that segment did Sing say anything that was condoning? As a matter of fact what he DID say was that the 49er Brass had submitted fair offers. Okay Houston now you're just babbling!

Here's a great link for you. Check it out.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/condoning

I'll let you read it and figure out what I meant. You're obviously making a mountain out of a molehill and picking apart single words and missing the overall meaning. If you have any other problems with the english language let me know and I'll try to help educate you.

Honestly, eventhough I hate the current situation I´d do the same thing being Crabtree or his agent. He only has one shot at free dough. After that he´ll have to prove it to get some more. He could sign, go to his first practice and have serious knee injury and his career could be over. All he´ll have left is his signing bonus.

Again, that from a players stand point you have to get your money as fast and in the biggest chunks possible. From a fans standpoint, fair is fair and that would be signin the 10th pick contract that has been offered to him. Lets hope Paraagg holds his ground, if not we´re going to be the league´s laughing stock once again.

Matt-

It seems like Singletary is bringing an "Us vs Them" sentiment to the team to try and bring them together.

He's clearly taking the side of Crabtree, which tells me he's made the decision that the players are most important to him. That's a lot better than you could say about a lot of coaches who are known as company men.

I think the players will respond positively to this, but the question is whether the new owner as well as McLoughlan will allow it to keep going on like this, or if one of them will ask Singletary to tone it down. After all, Singletary is basically undermining their efforts. But I see it as an effective strategy. Do you think Jed will put a stop to it, seeing as how he is so young and possibly not seeing the positive aspects of this? I guess we'll find out today when Singletary speaks, we should be on the lookout for whether he is toning down or smoothing over his acceptance of Crabtree's holdout.

Another thing to watch is if Singletary is going to be close to the players like this, it will make it very hard for ownership to fire him or discipline him. I know (hope) it's a long ways away, but this could be a potential pitfall for the young owner which I hope he doesn't fall into. What are your thoughts?

Also, yesterday I was listening to KNBR for Adam Shefter's interview, and one of the hosts said he thought Singletary had already made up his mind on Hill as the starter. I thought about that comment and wondered why, I came to the conclusion that it must be because Singletary has been defending Hill as a gamer. Doesn't he just tend to defend everyone on the team though?

I'm wondering if that is the general sentiment amongst the reporters or if this is just an isolated theory.

Thanks

"Given how few #1s above & below him have signed so far it just has to play out. "

This is part of the problem, though. Now that word is out that Crabtree is looking for more money, all of these other agents are going to want to wait to sign. If Crabtree gets more than anticipated, every other player who hasn't signed yet is going to get more than their slot calls for, as well. The #4 pick isn't going to sign for less than the #10, after all.

This is why, as someone said in a previous entry, that the entire league is 'putting pressure' on the niners NOT to give in to Parker's demands. It will reverberate through the entire league.

"Again, I'm no guru, but you gotta believe that even spread style offenses in the pro's have some sort of contingency. And for Martz to not have or allow any for the Niners was just ridiculous, in my uneducated opinion."

His system did have 'checks' and such... it just wasn't the traditional audible. Basically, almost every route was actually an option route, regardless of what was actually called. Each receiver would have, say, three options of what to run depending on what the defense was showing.

eg
Single deep safety with press coverage? Run a fly.
Press coverage with safety help rolled over the top? Deep in.
Relaxed coverage? Quick slant.

So, in essence, all of the audibles are built into the play. I'm sure they even had options of handing the ball off in certain instances, out of a passing play. This is what made Martz's system so complex, so difficult to learn, and even more difficult to master. Your QB and receivers have to be on EXACTLY the same page to make the system work properly. Pretty damn hard to have the system down even after a 16 game system, it would seem.

My understanding of it all, anyway.

Has one positive thing been said about this guy since the Niners picked him?

"He’s been catching passes from Alex Smith. They’ve been working together, they’ve been studying, they’ve been watching film, been running routes. He’s doing all the things he has to do."

Oh yeah, I'm in agreement with you and you explained it well, I just wanted to differentiate between making the guy out to be an attitude problem because his agent is drawing to an inside straight. You didn't write that, but the trend is picking up steam here.

You're the one that's making the fuss with your "assumptions" And the Webster dictionary take is pretty lame but that's par for the course for you.

The thing that troubles me though is that Martz didn't allow the Niner QB's - or probably just Hill - utilize those checks. I.e., Hill never had a chance to get his offense out of trouble if necessary. Hill's quote above: "Quarterbacks have the freedom - and the responsibility - to call audibles at the line of scrimmage to get out of "bad plays." Basically they had to work with what was given, and had no creative freedom. That's what I'm taking up issue with.

Nobody 'called the checks'. They were literally built into the plays. Both the QB and the WRs had to know them and pull them off without verbalization. I understand what you're saying... It seems like Martz just thought he was the only brains, so he put everything he could into one play to take any play calling chances out of the QBs hands.

It wasn't just Hill, that's just the way Martz's system is designed.

Oh yeah... his reasoning was that there were no 'bad calls'. He tried to design every play to deal with any defense thrown out there (within a given package, anyway). In theory, this would mean there were no bad plays.

Sounds like Martz' system is becoming obsolete, because I'll be damned if there were no "bad plays" out there last year. I hate to kick a man when he's down, but JTO and that offense? Talk about bad....that combo epitomized bad!

JTO was a big part of the problem with that offense struggling (cpt obvious to the rescue!). You can't have an indecisive QB... or one who makes poor decisions... because there are so many options to take into account. You need a VERY high football IQ to run that system. If you don't make the right decision... and quick... you end up taking alot of sacks and throwing many INTs. Sound familiar?

I wouldn't say his system is 'obsolete', per se... you just need the right personnel to make it work.

Matt,
What was the result of Singletary's hold-outs, especially the 1st one?

F49er, arguing with you is boring. At least call me a name, or type in all caps like you're yelling, or copy & paste my words into your comment and then refute whatever it is I said. In the absence of real football talk, I'll take a good argument.

Why are you putting quotations around the word assumptions? Are you quoting someone? I'm not actually making an assumption. I am stating an opinion that I hold. It may be contrary to your opinion but it is an opinion that is based in logic.

As for the actual argument. I have a few points. When Sing says he held out as a rookie because he thought he should have been picked in the 1st round and received 1st round money, it is not a stretch at all to think Crab's agent will use that argument against 9er management. I'm not saying the argument will impact the final contract but if I'm Crab's agent I'm saying, "look, your own coach held out because he thought he should have been picked higher." If you don't think this happens look at Josh Freeman with the Bucs. The agent is having the player hold out and part of his argument is that an assistant coach said he might be able to start this year. The club came out and refuted that statement but the agent is using a quote from a coach as a bargaining chip.

The other thing is Crab's made a commitment to Sing to be in camp on time. Now that Sing has downplayed the impact of a holdout on a potential starter, Crab's has absolutely zero incentive to pressure his agent into getting a deal done. Since your quite the wordsmith, this is where the word condoning comes to play. Sing didn't actually come out and say I'm ok with a holdout. He downplayed it in the media and said, oh yeah I held out too. This is similar to a parent talking to his kid and saying, well yeah I drank before I was 21, or yeah I drove a car while I was drunk, or yeah I dropped out of college. The parent may say learn from my mistakes but they have absolutely condoned the behavior to their kid. Now the kid says, well pops did it and he's ok so I can do it too. Sing doesn't have to lie, but he shouldn't condone the behavior either. Like I said earlier, he simply needs to say his perspective has changed now that he's a coach. He doesn't have to give details about his situation as a player over 25 years ago. The details of which align exactly with the agents reasons for the current unreasonable contract demands.

If I were Paraag, McC, or Jed I would have a problem with Sing's comments.

BTW.. I thought the dictionary thing was quite clever. Sorry you thought it was lame.

High football IQ huh, you mean like Shaun Hill??? Let’s go. Sorry F49er, we're close enough to TC, I couldn't help myself.

Obsolete was probably the wrong word. I should've said Martz' system is too rigid, not being allowed to adjust to the flow of the game and personnel.

...am guessing you are saying Sing is wrong for condoning the actions by crab "holdin out" for more money.....

...so are you saying Crabtree's agent shouldn't ask for money ?

...i thought you are a big supporter of captalist ideals......or do your views change when it is a young blk athlete?

first time commenting on your blog Matt, and hope to do so more often. Avid reader of your blog(when I have time to kill)

The way i see the crabtree holdout is purely business on both sides. No player wants to have a contract that will underpay him for the next 4/5 years, and no teams wants to overpay for an unproven player(aka Alex Smith). If I were negotiating for the 49ers, I would:
1. pay Crabtree the signing bonus for the #10 pick.
2. have a lot of incentive if Crabtree outperforms the set targets (1st year >500 yards, >5 touchdowns, 2nd year, >1000 yds/10TD, etc...) And if he is what his agents is claiming, then both sides will be happy.
Do you think that kind of contract is doable? does it violate any type of league rules?
3.

...this is interesting?...

"he simply needs to say his perspective has changed now that he's a coach"

.....- You mean he should flip-flop

"details of which align exactly with the agents reasons for the current unreasonable contract demands."

..... How is Crab contract demand - unreasonable?

...that is how almost all 49ers contracts have been structured since McGm became the GM

How is Crab contract demand - unreasonable?

Was he the best WR projected in the draft = YES
Did he win the award for best receiver out of college = YES
Did he put up the numbers in college to support his argument as best WR = YES
Should he have been picked higher than #10 = Yes

the only argument against him getting paid is because he dropped to #10

...if that is the case are you ok with him playing like a 10th pick or will you prefer he plays like a top 5 pick?

..from MB -

"Singletary also could take a hard line with Crabtree, who is officially missing his first day of camp today.....Instead, Singletary lavished praise on Crabtree yesterday and said his job was to get the rest of the team moving forward, not to worry about Michael Crabtree. It's like coaxing the kid who has locked himself in his room to come out and play. Threats only will make him more entrenched. If he sees everyone else having a good time and feels wanted, he'll unlock the door that much sooner."

Glad so see he is working with the second string offense. At least it is something.

You are so ridiculous its entertaining. Reading your posts is like laughing at the terrible jokes in the movie Dumb & Dumber and then being embarrassed that you were actually entertained by such drivel. Where to even begin....

Crabtree's race has nothing to do with anything. I'm not sure why you even brought that up. I support Crab's right to fight for a contract he believes fits his talent. I also support the 9ers right to offer only what they believe is reasonable. Both sides have common interests but they sit on opposite sides of the negotiation table. As such, Singletary needs to realize he is now part of management and no longer a player. His words are not helping the people who share his side of this negotiation.

You really should change your name to Non-Sequitur. That name more accurately fits your logic and posts.

Why should Coach be worried about Crabtree, after all we've got receivers ready to start. The longer he holds out the farther he is from starting thus weakening his position to deal. I think we are dealing from a position of strength and Coach knows it. Don't worry, be happy.

The race card, for reals? Wow.

"No player wants to have a contract that will underpay him for the next 4/5 years,"

Agreed. However, the niners have shown in the recent past that if players (like Staley and Willis) outplay their rookie contracts, they're very willing to sign them to extensions sooner rather than later. Sure, there's always the injury risk, but I can't think of too many teams who, after one or two years, are willing to pay out those kind of extensions to make sure their talent is taken care of.

glad am entertaining - not boring...

"I'm not sure why you even brought that up" - you know why i brought it up, - cuz in the past you have always made an issue of it.....(sometimes most of you forget i have been on this site before you guys got here)

"His words are not helping the people who share his side of this negotiation."

- again not knowing the exact facts of the issue btw crab and the negotiator......So WHAT if sings opinion contradicts the negotiator - does that mean the negotiator can't do his job?

from your point of view -If sing is a leader of men - ..how come it is wrong for him to lead by example - he was only giving the media a reason why he his not worried about crab not being in camp....

This is coming from you the same person who critized Nolan for trying to be too diplomatic with words......now you are whinning Sing is too honest with words...

Which is it Bro....

:)...i rather hear A.Smith working/spending time with Crab.....instead of Hill working with Crab...

.....something about the word "future" relates to A.Smith and Crab....

Actually I have no idea why you brought up Crab's race. I'm not sure I've ever discussed race on this message board. What makes you think I don't share more than just the state of Texas with Mr Crabtree?

Yes the words of the head coach impact the people trying to negotiate the contract. I'm not sure I can make that any more clear for you.

Leading by example, which is your best point IMO, doesn't need to be discussed publicly during the negotiation period. Thats a private conversation that should be held between Sing and Crabs AFTER he is signed.

I criticized Nolan for being phony and always appearing to put on an act. Honesty and diplomacy are not mutually exclusive. Again - PLEASE change your name to Non-Sequitur. It would be so appropriate.

I am not whining that Sing is too honest. I LOVE his honesty. Sing brought up his own personal history. He wasn't answering a question a direct question about his holdouts. He offered it up. I'm simply saying he doesnt need to do that at this point in time where an agent may or may not use his words against the team. He can show his understanding to Crab directly in private after he signs.

Amusing opinions today:

1. Crabtree agent is the ONLY one that's asking for more money that's why the league is on the Niners back.

2. Crabtree is a prima donna because he hasn't signed yet but those other picks that haven't signed either are somehow good guys.

3. Crabtree is asking for top 5 money when the team yesterday said he hadn't made any offer & Crabtree & his agent have said exactly nothing.

I could go on but the mass hysteria on Crabtree is rather pathetic. As is the apparent reliance on bloggers mischief making to determine our opinions rather than forming them ourselves.

It seems pretty obvious to me that the agent is waiting to see more contracts signed before he makes an offer. Nothing wrong with that. Seems like every other agent is doing exactly the same thing i.e. same thing that happens every year at this time. It will all work out and the sky will not fall.

I promise.

Dude... you are a BIGGER joke then you realize.

He was drafted #10. END OF STORY

9 different teams passed on him... you can't start adding variables like "Coulda Shoulda Woulda"

The Niner's ARE NOT going to pay him Top 5 $$$ And the fact that they have depth at the position makes this fight even more mute.

I agree that he should fight for the best contract he can get but it has to be reasonable. The longer he holds out the more it's going to hurt him.

4 weeks from now this whole thread won't even matter.

And even BETTER then that is when you'll finally stop going "BRUNO" on your buddy A.Smith. Hill will start the season and we'll be just fine ;)

Sorry guys... sick of the Crabtree thread, honestly I agree with BennyBlanco´s reply. Just one comment, STRESS FRACTURE, thats all the Niners have to say to get this deal signed. NOW FOR A CHANGE OF TOPIC.

What´s the niners position on Nate Davis? Now that has future implications all over it? Should we risk a possible great QB by trying to slip him in the PS? Should we carry 4 QBs when we might need another player on a postion like DB?

Matt any insight on this?

1. Crabtree agent is the ONLY one that's asking for more money that's why the league is on the Niners back.

Who else would? The kid who played an entire season with a broken foot and opted to have surgery to get into camp in time rather than run the 40?

2. Crabtree is a prima donna because he hasn't signed yet but those other picks that haven't signed either are somehow good guys.

Haven't seen many dogging crabtree here. He's being pushed (apparently) by the wrong forces. He's DEFINITELY not the bad guy in all of this. Someone put a bug in his ear. He's listening.

3. Crabtree is asking for top 5 money when the team yesterday said he hadn't made any offer & Crabtree & his agent have said exactly nothing.

Crabtree, himself, isn't asking for anything. Again, his agent (and possibly a few friends / family members) are talking him into it. It's documented that fair offers have been made. Watching him at the draft, he seemed genuinely thrilled at getting drafted. He seems like a good kid... just hope the wrong 'forces' don't push him in the wrong direction.

The front office seems to be going in the right direction. Hopefully he'll be aboard for the ride.