Michael Alex Crabtree Jr. (born September 14, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, twice earning unanimous All-American honors. He was selected 10th overall by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2009 NFL draft. Crabtree was a member of the 49ers for six seasons and spent the remainder of his career with the Oakland Raiders, Baltimore Ravens, and Arizona Cardinals.
Early life Crabtree was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended David W. Carter High School in Dallas where he played basketball, football, and ran track for the Cowboys program. Crabtree played as a quarterback for the Carter Cowboys high school football team. As a senior, he completed 45 of 100 passes for 870 yards and 11 touchdowns while also rushing 100 times for 646 yards and nine touchdowns. Crabtree was a four-star football recruit as an athlete.
Crabtree ranked among the top 51 recruits in the state of Texas going into college. During a visit in 2004, Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight asked Crabtree which sport he was going to choose. Though the decision was not an easy one, Crabtree opted to play college football exclusively.
Crabtree was offered football scholarships by Baylor, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and Kansas. He was also recruited by Texas, whose coaches wanted him to play defense. Crabtree refused, stating that he wanted to score touchdowns.
College career Crabtree accepted an athletic scholarship to attend Texas Tech University, where he played for coach Mike Leach and the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team from 2006 to 2008.
Freshman season Crabtree was redshirted his freshman season of 2006 because of a transcript glitch and a position change from quarterback to wide receiver.
In 2007, Crabtree started his redshirt-freshman season against SMU. In his first game, the Red Raiders won 49–9, and Crabtree stood out with 12 receptions for 106 yards and three touchdowns. The following week, in a 45–31 win over UTEP, Crabtree had 15 receptions for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Against the Rice Owls, he recorded 11 receptions for 244 yards and three touchdowns. In Tech's first loss of the season, against Oklahoma State, he had 14 receptions for 237 yards and three touchdowns. During a 75–7 victory over Northwestern State, Crabtree caught eight passes for 145 yards and three touchdowns in only two and a half quarters of playing time. Against Iowa State, Crabtree had 10 receptions for 154 yards and three touchdowns.
During the Iowa State game, Crabtree broke the season record for most touchdown receptions by a freshman receiver. The previous record of 14 was shared by Jabar Gaffney in 2000, Mike Williams in 2002, and Davone Bess in 2005. In the October 13, 2007, game, Crabtree had eight receptions for 170 yards during the 35–7 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies. This brought his total yardage to 1,244. In the next game, against Missouri, he again did not score but still added 76 more yards on ten catches. In spite of having two consecutive games without a touchdown, CBS Sports still ranked Crabtree as the top freshman in the nation.
During the game against Colorado, Crabtree made his 99th reception. This set three records simultaneously—most single-season receptions by a freshman in I-A, most single-season receptions by a Red Raider, and most single-season touchdowns by a Big 12 player (18). Crabtree finished his freshman season with 134 receptions for 1,962 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Sophomore season
Before the beginning of his sophomore season, CBS Sports listed Crabtree as a Heisman hopeful. Tech quarterback Graham Harrell's name also appeared on the list. Crabtree, along with Harrell and head coach Mike Leach, were featured on the cover of the 2008 edition of Dave Campbell's Texas Football. His name has also appeared on the Maxwell Award preseason watchlist along with Harrell. To support the Heisman campaign of both Harrell and Crabtree, Texas Tech created a website called PassOrCatch2008.com, which is modelled after political campaigns. The site has garnered national attention and was awarded a Telly Award which honors the best in local, regional, and cable commercials and programs, as well as online videos, films, and commercials. Crabtree finished fifth in the Heisman race behind Harrell at fourth.
Crabtree began his sophomore campaign in the 49–24 victory over Eastern Washington, recording nine receptions for 73 yards and a touchdown in limited playing time. In the next game against Nevada, he had seven receptions for 158 yards and an 82-yard touchdown during the 35–19 victory. Crabtree was selected as the AT&T ESPN All-America Player of the Week for his performance in the 43–7 victory over Southern Methodist after catching eight passes for a season-high 164 yards and three touchdowns.
During a 56–14 victory over Massachusetts, Crabtree recorded five receptions for 62 yards and a touchdown in limited playing time. In the next game against Kansas State, he caught nine passes for 107 yards and two touchdowns during the 58–28 victory. The Red Raiders then defeated Nebraska 37–31, where Crabtree had five receptions for 89 yards and two touchdowns. In the following 43–25 win over Texas A&M, he recorded eight receptions for 71 yards and two touchdowns while also compiling his first kickoff return of his career in the game, running the ball for 50 yards. However, Crabtree tweaked his left ankle during the return and hobbled off the field.
Crabtree partially recovered from his ankle sprain enough to play at Kansas, where he recorded nine receptions for 70 yards and two touchdowns in a 63–21 Tech victory. The Red Raiders then upset #1 Texas 39–33. Down 33–32, Tech drove down into the Longhorns' territory with eight seconds left in the game. Quarterback Graham Harrell threw to Crabtree in double coverage inside the 10-yard line. Crabtree grabbed the pass, shook a defender on the sideline, and ran into the endzone for the game-winning touchdown with a second left in the game. As the Red Raiders won, Crabtree finished with 10 receptions for 127 yards and the aforementioned touchdown. Against Oklahoma State, Crabtree had eight receptions for 89 yards and three touchdowns. He extended his streak of at least five receptions and a touchdown catch to 13 games, placing him in a tie for second-longest all time. In these three games, Crabtree hobbled off the field at times after making catches. He used the bye week before the Oklahoma game to fully recover from the injury. On December 2, 2008, Crabtree and teammate Graham Harrell were named as Walter Camp Award finalists. Crabtree started the year with the expectation that he would compete for the Heisman Trophy, but finished fifth in the Heisman voting, garnering three first place votes.
On April 23, 2009, EA Sports announced that Crabtree would be featured on the cover of NCAA Football 10 for Xbox 360. Cover athletes for the other editions of the game are Brian Johnson of the Utah Utes (PlayStation 3), Brian Orakpo of the Texas Longhorns (PlayStation 2), and Mark Sanchez of the USC Trojans (PlayStation Portable). The game was available in stores beginning July 14, 2009.
Professional career
Pre-draft
Shortly before the deadline, Crabtree declared himself eligible for the 2009 NFL draft, after discussions with his coach Mike Leach, and with representatives of the NFL who advised that "he would be a first-round pick". At the press conference to announce his plans to enter the NFL Draft, Crabtree was accompanied by his Texas Tech Red Raider teammate Brandon Williams, who made a similar announcement. Williams had led the Big 12 Conference in sacks. NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. had projected Crabtree to be selected by the Seattle Seahawks as the fourth overall pick.
On February 21, 2009, it was reported that Crabtree sustained a severe Jones fracture in his left foot, which would require surgery to insert a screw and would leave him unable to perform for the next six to 10 weeks, including the NFL Combine and Texas Tech's pro day. Doctors found that the injury had happened recently, and possibly during Crabtree's training for the combine. However, he stated that the stress fracture had been there for a year and did not cause him pain. On March 1, Crabtree stated he would have surgery and forgo the workout at Texas Tech's pro day on March 26.
At the 2009 NFL Combine, Crabtree weighed ; his height was reported at . He later scored 15 on the Wonderlic Test.
San Francisco 49ers Crabtree was selected in the first round (10th overall) by the San Francisco 49ers in the 2009 NFL draft. He was the highest drafted Texas Tech Red Raider since halfback Donny Anderson went seventh overall in the 1965 NFL draft. On July 28, 2009, Crabtree failed to report for training camp because he had no contract. Crabtree's training camp no show was the first for a rookie since 2005. Sources close to Crabtree indicated that he was prepared to sit out the 2009 season and re-enter the 2010 NFL Draft. Crabtree's agent, Eugene Parker, stated that he denied threatening the 49ers with having Crabtree sit out the season and reenter the draft. On August 30, Crabtree became the last holdout and unsigned draft pick from the 2009 NFL draft when Andre Smith, the sixth overall pick, signed with the Bengals. That day was also the 32nd day of Crabtree's holdout, and only 10 days short of the all-time long holdout for any 49ers rookie in the franchise's history. Beat reporter Matt Maiocco had reported rumors that the signing could have happened around Labor Day, but that did not occur as the sides remained at a complete impasse. Over Labor Day weekend Deion Sanders, an NFL reporter and Crabtree counselor, stated on the NFL Total Access show that Crabtree was indeed willing to sit out the entire season. Sanders also claimed that the rookie receiver was not in "dire need" of money at that time. By September 9, Crabtree set a 49ers record by becoming the longest rookie holdout in franchise history. The last first-round draft pick to hold out for an entire season was quarterback Kelly Stouffer in 1987 when he refused to sign with the Cardinals. Stouffer was eventually traded in April 1988 to the Seahawks for three draft picks, including a first pick in the 1989 draft. The 49ers would have had the option to trade the rights to Crabtree only after March 1, 2010, and up until the next draft. If a team were to trade for the rights, that team would not be able to sign such a player before the 2010 NFL draft. If he was not signed by the 49ers and then traded to another team, his contract would have then counted against that team's 2010 rookie pool.
2009 season
On September 21, 2009, the 49ers filed charges against the New York Jets for attempting to tamper with their negotiations with Crabtree. The 49ers may have believed the Jets contacted Crabtree's agent to let him know they'd be interested in trading for his rights, or in drafting him in 2010 with a better salary than the 49ers were offering. The 49ers had until November 17 to sign Crabtree or he wouldn't have been allowed to play in the 2009 season along with its being considered a non-accrued season for contract purposes.
On October 7, 2009, ESPN reported that Crabtree and the 49ers had agreed to a six-year contract. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the deal would be worth $32 million, with $17 million guaranteed, $8 million more than offered by the team in August 2009, but also a year longer. The contract can void to five years based on Pro Bowl and playing time triggers.