Well, it’s over.
After three months and threats of a full-year holdout and re-entry into the draft, receiver Michael Crabtree has agreed to terms with the 49ers, according to Jay Glazer of FOXSports.com and Adam Schefter of ESPN.
It’s a six-year deal that voids to five if, as Glazer reports, Crabtree has great years in two of his first four seasons. If Crabtree fails to reach the production trigger, the sixth year pays him only $4 million.
This specific detail sheds no light, however, on whether the 49ers held firm to the slot applicable to the tenth overall pick in the draft. We’ve got a feeling that there will be enough fluff and ambiguity to permit reasonable minds to differ on this point, which then will allow each side to plausibly claim victory.
Or, perhaps more accurately, to plausibly save face.
Indeed, Schefter characterizes the deal as a win-win.
On the surface, it is. Because the ongoing impasse was causing both sides to lose.