The Iupati / Crabtree Re-sign or Don't Thread

[NinerSickness]

I couldn't find the thread(s) where this was being debated, so I thought I'd make a new one for this season.

Iupati needs to stay IMO. He's the best guard in football when he's healthy. He had one injury-plagued year, but he's about as safe an investment as you're going to find in the NFL.

Crabtree needs to go IMO. The production of wide receivers over the course of 3 to 5 years is VERY sporadic compared to the production of offensive linemen over the same time span. And offensive linemen hit their absolute peaks at a later age than wide receivers do. In fact, offensive linemen have the best production relative to other positions in their 30's of any position in the NFL except QB.

Also, the best offensive lines are the ones who have played together the longest. Wide receivers just run rountes; offensive linemen have to know if they are responsible for a blitz pickup or if the guy next to him or the RB is.

The 49ers have had the best OL in football over the last few year. THE BEST! Do they really want to break that up? And they have the best OL in football with a craptacular center for the last 2 years (Goodwin). Imagnine how good it'll be when they put in the supremely talented Marcus Martin in there by 2015 at the latest! It'd be like the Cowboys in the 90's. And the Cowboys' OL in the 90's was downright demoralizing. I friggn' hated those guys.

 

[maniax]

I agree. Let Crabtree walk.
The only negative is I wish we would have drafted a WR like Latimer or Moncrief this year to groom to replace Crabtree.

Iupati might price himself out of SF, even if we let Crabtree walk.

 

[Kendal]

I think the 9ers may be better prepared to lose Iupati than Crabtree. If Iupati leaves, the 9ers can replace him with Kilgore, Looney, Thomas, or a free agent and still have a very good offensive line. We can probably hide an average guard if the rest of the line is good. If we lose Crabtree, the WR unit is week. I don't have confidence that Patton or Ellington could be a legit 3rd receiver, and a Johnson/Boldin combo would not be good for a team's top 2 receivers.

 

[numone9er]

Iupati is a high priority like you said. I'd love to keep Crabtree at a good price, but that probably won't happen. Then again, who's going to pay big money for him if e can't stay healthy and produce? This years FA proved that. Just look at Hakeem Nicks. Crabtree could find himself in a similar situation.

 

[Beengay fudgepackers]

Crabtree is average, but thinks he's a number 1 wide receiver. Let him walk. You could probably find a better wide receiver rather easily. I don't think his future is that bright. He looked great incoming out of college, but hasn't shown much potential. I read an article where the author thought that Brandon Marshall's contract was the high end of what the 9ers can expect to sign Crabtree for. Crabtree isn't half the receiver Marshall is. And shouldn't be paid near what Marshall is getting.

Iupati is a very good lineman. You need to keep him.

 

[BloodType49]

Keep Crabs

 

[purguy12]

I say let both walk unless they give us a discount. Iupati hasn't been great the last year and a half and crabtree has also been hurt and is going to ask for Marshall type money. Losing both will hurt but you cant keep everyone. I would let these 2 walk. Save the money.


Sidenote: I am a fan of both players.

 

[CalamityX11]

I think the 9ers may be better prepared to lose Iupati than Crabtree. If Iupati leaves, the 9ers can replace him with Kilgore, Looney, Thomas, or a free agent and still have a very good offensive line. We can probably hide an average guard if the rest of the line is good. If we lose Crabtree, the WR unit is week. I don't have confidence that Patton or Ellington could be a legit 3rd receiver, and a Johnson/Boldin combo would not be good for a team's top 2 receivers.

I think this is the best assessment out there....

Truthfully its hard, I believe in stability and have seen our OL as one of the best despite some opinions...I would say Iupati, but can't put so much $$$ into the whole line but again it is important that we win the trenches...

Crabtree's importance is higher since he's really the lone/constant threat in the WR pre-Boldin.

tough call.... you can say its easy to replace a G or WR TBH, given how our offense works, I think G/OL holds more weight ATM.

Hell I want Crabtree back, think he's good for us... but if I had to draw a line... gosh...very hard... now I say Iupati, in 2 hrs I'd probably say Crabtree n so forth.

its really tough to pick... but as I bolded the above from Kendal, ATM we're more prepared to lose Iupati than Crabtree

 

[Badger8843]

With Thomas and both Martin's, I think they will let Iupati walk before Crabtree. We will re-sign Kaep and he and Crabs are tight so I'm sure he will want the brass to re-sign Crabs too. I would love to have him back at $7-8 mil per year, nothing more then that. But we have so much depth on the OL now with this recent draft that I'm not worried about that

 

[Hangman]

If they both come back for about $6-7 mill/year than keep em. Other than that let them walk.

Thomas can replace Iupati. He wont be as good, but he will be good for a lot less money.

 

[purguy12]

Yeah I see both walking. If I had to pick depends on the money and years but if I had to guess if they did pick one they would pick Crabtree. Reason they have players to take Iupati spot already. There is no one to take Crabtrees spot especially that Boldin in done after next year. The drop off from Crabtree and the other WRs is big. I don't think the drop from Iupati and the Depth is as big.

 

[-AC-]

Tough question...

From afar, one would think that Iupati would be the obvious choice. But when you get right down to it, while Iupati has been one of the better Guards in the NFL when healthy, he has almost seemed to peak already. When he was drafted, he was good right of the gate, from day one. That said, he hasn't become that consistant dominator that you look for from a Guard drafted so early in the first round of the draft. He flashes dominance, but he still has a fair amount of mental errors and lapses of just going through the motions. I worry about committing top dollar to a player that may never be better than he already is or has been before injury...

As for Crabtree, he certainly elevates Kaepernicks game when he is on the field. But I wouldn't break the bank for Crabby. He is inline for a decent payday, but he deserves no better than 7 million a season over 3 or 4 years...

Conclusion- I couldn't possibly choose one or the other at this point. Everything will depend on how they both play this season, and what they will eventually ask for...

 

[supreme_clientele81]

Who ever accepts a 5 year 40 million dollar contract 1st

 

[Xponentialchaos]

Don't make me choose between them!

 

[deep9er]

I couldn't find the thread(s) where this was being debated, so I thought I'd make a new one for this season.

Iupati needs to stay IMO. He's the best guard in football when he's healthy. He had one injury-plagued year, but he's about as safe an investment as you're going to find in the NFL.

Crabtree needs to go IMO. The production of wide receivers over the course of 3 to 5 years is VERY sporadic compared to the production of offensive linemen over the same time span. And offensive linemen hit their absolute peaks at a later age than wide receivers do. In fact, offensive linemen have the best production relative to other positions in their 30's of any position in the NFL except QB.

Also, the best offensive lines are the ones who have played together the longest. Wide receivers just run rountes; offensive linemen have to know if they are responsible for a blitz pickup or if the guy next to him or the RB is.

The 49ers have had the best OL in football over the last few year. THE BEST! Do they really want to break that up? And they have the best OL in football with a craptacular center for the last 2 years (Goodwin). Imagnine how good it'll be when they put in the supremely talented Marcus Martin in there by 2015 at the latest! It'd be like the Cowboys in the 90's. And the Cowboys' OL in the 90's was downright demoralizing. I friggn' hated those guys.

"don't" doesn't seem like the right word, for me it is "can't"?

anyway, the way we're reading things now..............."don't" on both.

 

[deep9er]

Tough question...

From afar, one would think that Iupati would be the obvious choice. But when you get right down to it, while Iupati has been one of the better Guards in the NFL when healthy, he has almost seemed to peak already. When he was drafted, he was good right of the gate, from day one. That said, he hasn't become that consistant dominator that you look for from a Guard drafted so early in the first round of the draft. He flashes dominance, but he still has a fair amount of mental errors and lapses of just going through the motions. I worry about committing top dollar to a player that may never be better than he already is or has been before injury...

As for Crabtree, he certainly elevates Kaepernicks game when he is on the field. But I wouldn't break the bank for Crabby. He is inline for a decent payday, but he deserves no better than 7 million a season over 3 or 4 years...

Conclusion- I couldn't possibly choose one or the other at this point. Everything will depend on how they both play this season, and what they will eventually ask for...

peaking at the All-Pro level isn't a bad thing.

 

[Dodub]

Let Iupati walk and sign Crabs, I see this as the most likely scenario.

 

[-AC-]

peaking at the All-Pro level isn't a bad thing.

I don't disagree...

But if he has peaked or plateaued where does he go from here? No where to go but down if that truly is the case. And if that is the case, how does the front office respond with a contract offer?

Just to clarify, I'm not saying he has peaked, only suggesting that he might have. And I'm sure the front office is weighing that possibility as well...

 

[dredinis21]

Here is how I hope to see this play out.

We go ahead and franchise Iupati on a one-yr deal for two different reasons. First, it buys us time to take a hard look at Thomas and Martin in order to see if they truly are deserving of taking over LG if Iupati were to leave. Second, it gives us an opportunity to take a hard look at Iupati and figure out if he's 1.) healthy and 2.) productive as he was two years prior. Based on those two factors, we move forward from there.

As far as Crabtree is concerned, this one is more of a gamble. Adam Schefter tweeted out just today that the following WRs are playing on expiring contracts this season:

Torrey Smith
Demaryius Thomas
Reggie Wayne
Jeremy Maclin
Hakeem Nicks
Dez Bryant
Jordy Nelson
Randall Cobb
Roddy White
Wes Welker
Michael Crabtree

I would give him a hard line contract offer 5 yr/40 mil, 28 mil guaranteed and allow him to shop around. Even if half of the players are franchised, that still means that there will be 5-6 guys still out there looking for big deals. The problem with this is that he is the straw that stirs the drink in our passing game and is frankly we have been looking for since TO left. He moves the chains, he's dynamic, he's clutch, he's been a great team player, and most of all, he's a legit possession WR. The other problem is that I typically am not a big fan of paying for other team's FAs.

With Crabtree, it also will be interesting to see how productive Stevie Johnson is our offense because if he is as dynamic as Crabs has been, then I could see us letting Crabs walk and roll hard with Ellington and Patton as our 3rd/4th WRs.

 

[Badger8843]

^ that is what I'm thinking too, lets see how Stevie does in the offense, he already has had a better career then Crabs and he is only a year older, so if he can show the same things in San Fran then tell Crabs $7 mil a year is the highest were going