Seemed like an incredible bargain in April when the concensus best receiver in the 2009 NFL Draft Michael Crabtree fell to the 49ers at the No. 10 pick.
Now comes the sticker shock part. Crabtree did not report for Tuesday's mandatory training camp reporting date for rookies. He hasn't signed a contract, and Mike Florio reports on ProFootballTalk.com that tenth-pick Crabtee is holding out for top-five-pick money.
And if that's not enough, the Denver Post reports that Crabtree is actually holding out for top-three-pick money.
None of this is fazing 49ers coach Mike Singletary. Turns out Singletary himself also held out as a rookie Chicago Bear. And his career ended up turning out pretty well.
"I was drafted in the second round and, of course, I thought I should have been drafted in the first round," Singletary told the San Francisco Chronicle. "So I held out for a week."
Also not fazing Coach Singletary is the notion that Crabtree's stress fracture recovery might hamper his training camp participation. "He's been working his tail off. He's been out here catching passes from Alex Smith. He's doing all the things he has to do," Singletary said. "I'm very excited about the fact we have him and, hopefully, at some point in time he'll be here."
There's been some squibbling among NFL experts over whether Crabtree's situation is actually a holdout. Matt Maiocco argued on his Press-Democrat Instant 49ers blog that a rookie who has not yet signed a contract is technically not "holding out." Maiocco prefers the term "contract stalemate".
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So, sure, we'll go with "contract stalemate". But whatever it is, it's keeping the most promising rookie receiver in the league from suiting up for 49ers training camp.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who is holding out for Chris Daly-type money.
