San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree has waited a long time for a "payback" opportunity against the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders famously passed on Crabtree in the 2009 draft, dropping him to the 49ers at No. 10 and costing Crabtree millions.
Crabtree's revenge fantasy may be realized Sunday, when the Raiders come to Candlestick.
"Of course you think about it," Crabtree told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Anytime someone gets picked ahead of you, you think about it."
The Raiders selected receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey over Crabtree with the No. 7 pick.
"You'll always have that in the back of your mind when you play them," Crabtree said of the snub. "Yeah, it's going to be big this week."
Crabtree is coming off a monster game against the Eagles, with nine catches for 105 yards. In five combined games this whole season, Hayward-Bey has 11 catches for 142 yards.
Crabtree has been massively more productive than Heyward-Bey. Crabtree's career totals are 68 catches for 869 yards and three touchdowns, while DHB has only 20 catches for 266 yards and one touchdown.
Crabtree may use the Raiders' 2009 Draft Day snub for motivation on Sunday, and anything that helps the 49ers get their first win is great. But the word on Paul Gutierrez' Twitter is that Crabtree was actually quite thrilled when the Raiders passed on him.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who will spend nearly all of the Giants' NLCS game two sitting in a post-Niners traffic jam on 101.
