CARSON, Calif. — Michael Crabtree is pissed off.
Despite receiving 30 targets in Weeks 14 and 15 combined, the Raiders’ wide receiver was visibly frustrated with his two targets in Sunday’s season finale after a mere three targets the week before in Philadelphia.
“I played probably 13 plays, wasn’t in the game plan, so I did what I was supposed to do,” Crabtree said after Oakland’s 30-10 loss to the Chargers. “Every time I went in I did my job.”
Crabtree finished Sunday’s season finale at the StubHub Center with two catches for 17 yards. Against the Eagles, he didn’t catch any of his three targets. The Raiders stumbled to a 6-10 finish with four straight losses to end the regular season, and one of their top receivers faces an uncertain future in Oakland.
With a new head coach entering after owner Mark Davis fired Jack Del Rio shortly after the game, who knows where Crabtree will play next year. The new regime, which looks to be spearheaded by Jon Gruden, might wipe the slate clean with coaches and some players. Crabtree is owed $7 million in base salary next season, and there’s no dead cap money if the Raiders are to release him.
Crabtree has only talked to the media twice after games this season, following a win against the Chiefs and a loss to the Cowboys, but he delivered passionate responses after the Chargers demolished Oakland in Del Rio’s final game as head coach. Crabtree’s somewhat fiery postgame session got lost in the wake of Del Rio’s sudden firing, but it’s clear arguably the Raiders’ No. 1 receiver this season wasn’t happy with how the coaching staff used him in the final two games.
“I done played 60 minutes every time we play,” Crabtree said. “Game winners after game winners, like I do everything they asked of me. These last two games, I probably had three targets, but nobody’s saying nothing about that.”
Crabtree finished this season with 58 catches for 618 yards and eight touchdowns. He ranked first on the team in catches, third in receiving yards and first in touchdown catches. His otherwise impressive season was marred by a brawl in Week 12, in which Crabtree was ejected for an altercation with Broncos’ cornerback Aqib Talib.
Since that game, despite reeling in a pair of two-yard touchdowns against the Cowboys in Week 15, Crabtree recorded receiving totals of 60, 39, 0 and 17 yards. After entering 2017 without a catch-less game in his career, Crabtree went without a grab twice this season (including the game he was ejected from early).
He played only 43% of offensive snaps against Philadelphia, which Del Rio attributed to a hamstring issue and “missed opportunity.
“I think he was bothered a little bit at the end of the game with a hamstring,” Del Rio said last Wednesday. “Missed opportunity. I think he had one that would have been close to a touchdown, if not a touchdown. That’s what it was.”
Asked about his future with the Raiders, Crabtree said, “I’m playing ball, whatever they ask me to do. Like today, they only want me to play 10 plays. I’ll play 10 plays. So I mean, season’s over now.”
The Raiders’ season is over, but is Crabtree’s career in silver and black nearing an end, too?
He can clearly still play at a high level, but only Gruden knows what Gruden would do with Crabtree if he comes to Oakland. For now, Crabtree is forced to hold his tongue.
“If I react then I’m a bad guy, you know what I’m saying?” Crabtree said. “Then they asking, ‘Why he ain’t on the field?’ You gotta ask the coach that. I do everything I’m supposed to do.
“It’s all good. Like I said I’m gonna keep working hard, man. Just be me, you know?”
