Apples to oranges. That whole situation was a complete clusterfuck and resulted more from Goodell feeling being pressured to do something based more on perception than actual facts. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ninerinsider/detail?&entry_id=25163
How do you know that? Are you privy to the same information Goodell has? What makes you think the charges against us are any more true than the charges against them? Must be because it's our team rather than someone else... yes, that's why its different.
If the allegations are proven correct, then maybe the Jets do need to be made an example of. Imagine some team - like maybe the Pats - had spoken with Sanchez' agent and delayed his contract signing to the point where he didn't even get his playbook until this week? I'd be pissed off. That would have cost us this season. However, I doubt they will come up with enough evidence that it can be proven without a doubt.
Sigh. Here: http://www.forums.theganggreen.com/showpost.php?p=1380728&postcount=13 and Here: http://www.forums.theganggreen.com/showpost.php?p=1380739&postcount=17
This is born from the mouth of Deion Sanders. the guy speculates about it so he has something to talk about and be relevant to the discussion, and the 49'ers jump on it like gospel in a last ditch attempt to save some sort of face. I doubt there is any credible evidence that will warrant significant punishment.
No offense It wasn't an excuse... just pointing out that if the NFL feels that's such a bad thing to do then they have to change the contract system... especially for rookies. A rule that states that an agent cannot talk to another team about one of his players contract in certain times of the year is bullshit because an agent follows many players and how can the NFL be sure they were talking about that specific player and not another one?
There is a parallel investigation going on with Washington and Haynesworth and how they were able to work out, draw up and get a contract signed 15 minutes after FA started. I am more interested in that one at this point.
I used the word "weak" instead of "devoid" because of the fact we have been accused of tampering! I figured someone would call me out if I wrote it that way.
I don't see how they are going to prove this or disprove it conclusively. The only way that it can be proven conclusively, electronic recordings absent, is if both the Jets and the people around Crabtree admit that conversations establishing his worth to the Jets were indeed held at some point. I can't believe that Tannenbaum would have engaged in that kind of behavior, because it's really stupid, self-defeating behavior, and that would take those conversations out another link at least in order for them to have occurred. Assuming that the organization did make overtures to Crabtree the odds are excellent, verging on almost absolute, that that contact occurred prior to August 14th, which was the last day that Crabtree's rights could be traded until March. So you're going to wind up with a hearsay case (no way the Jets made overtures to Deion Sanders, because he has too many connections around the league) that probably is based on alleged events that occurred 2+ months ago. It would take a kangaroo court to convict the Jets of that type of offense.
so because something is difficult to prove there shouldn't be a rule to prevent that behavior. that's ridiculous. you have the rule to dissuade it from occurring. you worry about enforcing it afterwards. the fact that the agent has other players is irrelevant.
Crabtree is a moron. I hope to God they rearrange the rookie pay scale in the new CBA, and he makes 75% less then you could've.
the Jets have the logical denial. what did we contact him for? to inquire about a trade? how could we afford to sign the player this year to the money he wants? they couldn't, so there is no reason to trade. to persuade a holdout so we can draft him next year lower than where he was drafted this year, but pay him more than his slot next year would qualify him for? that's just as ludicrous.
The crux of the entire argument is we were offering to draft him next year and pay him that kind of money. What is wrong with that picture? It makes the entire accusation absolute nonsense. The Jets will be in NO POSITION to draft Crabtree in 2010, or there is at least no way to guarantee that they will have a losing season. What a ridiculous allegation.
This entire claim is a contrived allegation by a frustrated and incompetent run front office in San Francisco. Here is the big problem: San Francisco f'd up the Alex Smith draft pick and needs to save face. The drafted Crabtree at #10 - the reason Crabtree fell was two-fold - #1 the Raiders took speed at WR with the 7th pick and #2 Crabtree is a "headcase" which percipitated his fall. When Crabtree & his agent (Eugene Parker) were at the combines, pre-draft workouts, etc, ALL the NFL teams were telling them that Crabtree was a TOP 5 pick. Crabtree has surrounded himself with a posse to include Deion Sanders (the last person I want to take financial or football advice from), David Wells - Crabtree's cousin who is a bailbondsmen (those people are the scum of the earth) and former bodyguard to Michael Irvin and Pacman Jones (two upstanding NFL players!!!) and TX State Senator Royce West (what he knows about the NFL is anyone's guess). Check out Elizabeth Merrill's outstanding ESPN article on Crabtree and these knuckleheads: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?page=hotread2/crabtree Eugune Parker represented Sanders when Deion signed his contract with the Cowboys (no tampering there, eeh?) and also Chief Tyson Jackson who also showed up late. Incidently Eugene Parker also represented Curtis Martin (who the Jets tampered with) and Lavernues Coles (who the Redskins tampered with). The issue here isn't the teams, it is this SPECIFIC agent. So how does this impact the Jets? -The Crabtree camp thinks it should be paid more money than the #10 slot allows for. -Wells hints in the press that Crabtree will hold out for the season if he isn't paid. -Sanders hints that unnamed NFL teams would certainly pay more for Crabtree. If someone in a media capacity asks an NFL team what do you think about such and such a player, that is one thing. It is quite another to take that information back to a player's camp to use that as leverage. Anyone sense a conflict here with Deion Sanders "part of the Crabtree camp" versus Deion Sanders "part of the media camp"? -Parker sticks to his demands and reiterates the "other teams will pay" to justify the contract demands. Parker most likely has reached out to multiple WR needy teams to shop his client - just like he did with Sanders, Martin, Coles, etc. -The SF becomes frustrated with Parker and Crabtree and instead of using the "Unlikely to be Earned" incentives to inflate the contract, they decide to play hardball with Crabtree and Parker and get some leverage with them by filing tampering charges. Plus SF needs to deflect attention from their incompetance and the Smith fiasco, so tampering charges are the best way to go in the "hey it isn't our fault" excuse to the fans. -The Jets become an easy target and I have no doubt that Sanders spoke to the Jets FO in his "media capacity" and forwarded those comments back to Crabtree and that Parker - because of his relationship with the Jets FO and knowing the WR need - attempted to shop Crabtree to the Jets. -Most importantly, I don't think it matters to the Crabtree camp whether he plays this year or not. And the biggest reason is that Crabtree's foot is probably worse off than anyone else knows, so this is just a delaying tactic to get healthy this year. The BIG question for the Jets is going to be whether the NFL decides to punish them like they did the Patriots for videotaping. Unlike with the Patriots where there was videotaped evidence, as no proof has come out about this, I think the scenario played out as above. IMO, the SF FO is incompetent and Parker should be decertified as an agent by the NFL and the union. IF they attempt to punish the Jets on this flimsy nonsense they need to punish every team - starting with the Patriots on the Moss trade (has there ever been a more clear case of tampering with another player in NFL history) and the Skins with signing Haynesworth this year where they had a contract in place before midnight.
