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Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Memphis has named Justin Fuente, co-offensive coordinator at TCU, its next head football coach. Fuente agreed to a five-year contract and replaces Larry Porter, who was fired late last month after going 3-21

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Birmingham, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Aston Villa midfielder Jermaine Jenas will be sidelined six months, possibly ruling him out for the remainder of the season, after undergoing surgery for a ruptured Achilles tendon. Jenas, 28, was inj

<< Rooney's Euro 2012 ban reduced to two games
Nyon, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wayne Rooney's three-match suspension for the Euro 2012 finals was reduced to two matches by UEFA on Thursday, allowing the English striker to participate in the final game of group play. Rooney will not

<< Wild place Setoguchi on IR
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild have placed forward Devin Setoguchi on injured reserve because of a lower body injury. The move is retroactive to December 6, when he left after the first period of the Wild's win over th

Sandusky released on bail >>
Bellefonte, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jerry Sandusky was released from jail on Thursday after posting $250,000 bail. Sandusky was arrested Wednesday after two more young men testified to a grand jury that they were targeted as children fo

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Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers manager Ally McCoist admitted he was "absolutely shocked and extremely angry" that winger Sone Aluko's two-game suspension was upheld Thursday. "The meeting was chaired by a former referee," he s

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Orchard Park, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Bills have placed kicker Rian Lindell on injured reserve with a broken shoulder. Lindell suffered the injury while making a touchdown-saving tackle against the Jets on November 6. He was initi

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Amsterdam, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk signed a contract extension through July 2016, the Dutch Football Association announced Thursday. Van Marwijk, 59, took over the Dutch national team in July 2008

FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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