It's a hall-of-fame weekend at Candlestick Park. Soon-to-be- Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Rice is at the stadium today to introduce the inaugural 49ers Hallf of Famer, Eddie Debartolo Jr., at half time. Before the game Rice was asked his thoughts about Michael Crabtree ...
On his thoughts about Crabtree, who will miss his second regular-season game today:
It's just unfortunate. Unfortunate and it doesn't look like they're getting anywhere close to coming to an agreement. This guy's way behind, way behind. I'm talking the speed of the game, everything. If they brought him in right now, I don't think he's going to be ready to play.
What is Crabtree missing out on?
Pretty much you lose everything with the team, the chemistry. You need to be in training camp working out with those guys, sweating with those guys, putting those tough days in. This game is so fast and it's such a fine-tuned game now that you just can't skip regular preseason then come into regular season and expect to play well.
How will he be received if/when he does sign?
A lot of guys you try not to get into a guy and his money and stuff like that. I'm sure a lot of guys are probably taking it real hard. This guy is the No. 1 draft choice and he's holding out and he can really help the team. And he's only thinking about, well, he went No. 10 but he thought he should have gone No. 5 and that's the type of money he's trying to get.
Will the fact that he missed a tough training camp factor in?
What factors in is a lot of those guys they had to sweat and they had to go through the soreness and all of that. They had to survive it. I'm sure there might be a little animosity toward him if he comes in and gets handed that starting job.
On his own holdout (He missed 37 days of training camp in 1992):
I don't know how long I held out, but it was not during regular season. There's no way I would have held out during regular season. I was like, 'Just get it done so I can get back in there with my team and try to win football games and make this team a better team.'
On the advice Crabtree is receiving:
I think the thing is right now he has maybe too many people in his ear. I know his agent also represented Richard Seymour and represented Deion Sanders. Then you've got Deion Sanders fighting for him, too. They feel like this guy should have gone in the No. 5 spot and that's the kind of money they want.
-- Matt Barrows
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