It's not player hate, it's awful contract hate.
He's a player that will, in total, cost this team $10 million this season in salary, and various bonuses.
And as it stands today, nobody can even tell me where Crawford will start. In all of the debates and arguments I've had about him, even his most staunch and ardent defender can't answer that question.
Maliek Collins has outperformed Crawford at the 3T as a rookie, moving Crawford there, where he himself has admitted to not fitting well and getting banged U.K. too often, would be forcing things for the sake of money.
And David Irving was a more catalytic player than Crawford was at LDE, a role that Crawford played out of necessity, not design.
And we can all agree that this team's biggest need is at defensive end anyway, so where does that leave a guy like Crawford?
And you mention "played through injuries" as if it's a good thing, it's not. While I can admire and respect him 'gutting it out', the fact is that we're getting diminished level of play. And he's coming off of a second consecutive shoulder surgery, in addition to a previous Achilles surgery. The track record there doesn't instill confidence either.
To sum it up, we're looking at a rotational role player with an escalating salary who will cost this team over $7 million in salary and $10 million overall. A player without a true scheme fit in our 4-3 defense, not big enough to play inside, not fast or flexible enough to play outside.
To be that situation is "criminal", and he absolutely is grossly overpaid for the role he will play here.
