MKRob Sports

Former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown, who made $85,000 in the final season of his Hall of Fame career, has a message for the 49ers’ first-round draft pick:

“Mr. Crabtree, get your butt in camp,’’ he said.

In an interview with Sirius XM radio, Brown told host Joe Madison that Michael Crabtree’s current stance is “totally ridiculous” and said that an athlete’s career is measured by the way he plays, not the contract he signs.

“You don’t realize that your legacy will be based upon how you perform, not how much money you made?” Brown said on the show.

Brown visited 49ers training camp in August. Crabtree was absent because of a contract stalemate that shows no sign of a breakthrough three games into the regular-season. Reports peg the 49ers offer as a five-year deal that includes $16 million in guarantees.

Here is the complete text of Brown’s message to Crabtree:

Madison: What’s your advice for today’s NFL rookies and 49ers first-round draft choice Michael Crabtree, who is holding out for a better contract?

Brown: “Do not let the money be the deciding factor on what you do. Reject that because that is the wrong determination.

“An example of what I’m talking about is you have a young man by the name of [Michael] Crabtree that’s the number one draft choice that has not reported to his team. Someone told him that he could sit out a year and then come back and renegotiate and make more money. That is totally ridiculous.

“You’re going to lose a year of playing football to try to get more money than you can get this year, which you’ll never make up? And you don’t realize that your legacy will be based upon how you perform, not how much money you made? … $1 million more without a tax plan and a life management plan won’t make any difference anyway. I
“I made $85,000 in my last year, but it was how I marketed myself. My legacy is based on playing hard football, dedicated football. And today, that’s what people remember. And today, it’s the greatest asset that I got out of sports because people knew I loved the game and played hard.

“And they loved it. And so my life, my quality of life is much better than if I had opted to make an extra couple of million dollars. It is not even a contest. So, Mr. Crabtree, get your butt in camp.”