The Santa Rosa Press Democrat is reporting that there’s a strong possibility that first round pick Michael Crabtree will start this week when he makes his NFL debut against the Texans. He would replace Josh Morgan while Isaac Bruce will remain at flanker.

There’s a good chance that Crabtree won’t have much of an effect on the Niners’ offense for at least a couple of weeks. They’ll remain a run-first team and Morgan will still see plenty of playing time considering he’s San Fran’s best run-blocking receiver.

The question I have regarding Crabtree is what kind of an affect he’ll have on the team’s locker room. Considering he held out for five weeks, he couldn’t have endeared himself to his teammates. And now at the first opportunity, he’s being thrust into the starting lineup.

With that in mind, Mike Singletary wouldn’t make a move like this if he knew he’d lose the locker room. He has the respect of his players and they trust his decisions. If he thinks that starting Crabtree gives his team the best chance to win, his players will follow.

Why not see if the rookie can sink or swim right away?

Up until their 45-10 loss to the Falcons in Week 5, Shaun Hill and the 49ers felt pretty good about how they started their 2009 season. Hill wasn’t setting the stat book on fire, but he kept the chains moving by making smart decisions and taking care of the football.

But on Sunday, Atlanta jumped out to a sizable first half lead and forced Hill to beat them through the air. What proceeded was a nasty performance highlighted by off-the-mark throws and inconsistency. He didn’t get much help from the running game, but he never got into a rhythm passing and his limitations as a quarterback were on full display. He struggled mightily with the intermediate and deep passes today.

That said, the Niners won’t be making a switch any time soon. It’s not like Mike Singletary didn’t know that Hill wasn’t Peyton Manning in preseason and Hill still beat out Alex Smith for the starting job. The bottom line is that San Fran will struggle this season when it can’t run the ball and the defense doesn’t step up.

Speaking of the Niners’ defense, Matt Ryan and Roddy White absolutely took them to school today. Ryan threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns on 22 of 32 passing, while White had his best outing of the year with eight receptions for 210 yards and two touchdowns. White, who had gotten off to a slow start this season, found holes in San Francisco’s defense and as he often is, Ryan was accurate with his throws.

This was the type of performance that Atlanta had been waiting for on both sides of the ball. They played well in a win over Miami in Week 1, but this was the first time the Falcons really took it to an opponent. Ryan was potent, White was unstoppable, Michael Turner looked like the ’08 version of himself and the defense finally generated a consistent pass rush. The run defense was solid for the first time all year.

Granted, the 49ers didn’t help themselves by turning the ball over at costly times. Down 35-10 and searching for anything to help turn the momentum, Dre’ Bly intercepted Ryan and looked like he might take it the other way for a pick six. But White never gave up on the ball and stripped Bly, who was carrying the ball like a loaf of bread. The Falcons recovered the ball, marched back into scoring range and kicked a field goal to go up 38-10 midway through the third quarter.

This was the first time all season Singletary’s team looked sloppy and the Falcons shredded them. But maybe San Fran will learn from this, reset its expectations and use this outing to stay grounded throughout the rest of the year.

ESPN.com reports that wide receiver Michael Crabtree has agreed to reopen contract discussions over the 49ers.

Eugene Parker, Crabtree’s agent, is scheduled to arrive in San Francisco on Tuesday. Parker declined comment when reached.
Niners coach Mike Singletary said Monday that he would still like to have Crabtree play for the team this season.

“Any guy that can play and help us win, I would never say, ‘No, we don’t need him,’” Singletary said. “We need all the good football players we can get.”

Crabtree, the 10th overall selection in April’s draft, is the only unsigned first-round pick. He has missed the first four weeks of the regular season.

I don’t think Crabtree is dumb. I think he got dumb advice from his dumb agent who only now realizes how bad a mistake he’s made with his client’s future. If I were Crabtree, I’d fire Parker immediately to ensure he doesn’t screw this deal up even more than he already has.

Parker and Crabtree played Russian roulette and lost. At 3-1, the 49ers have proven that they don’t need him to win and had Crabtree held out any longer, I’m sure the front office was thinking about cutting their losses and using that money to re-sign players like Patrick Willis.

This is a win-win situation for the 49ers. If Parker balks and Crabtree continues to holdout, then San Fran can use the money elsewhere and remove themselves from the situation. If Crabtree signs, then Mike Singletary can get his big paws around his young receiver’s neck and strangle some sense into him.

Either way, this is a positive for a Niner team that has a lot of hope building on this young season.

In a recent interview with Sirius XM radio, former NFL legend Jim Brown had some advice for Michael Crabtree, the 49ers rookie who is holding out for a bigger contract offer.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

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.

It’s painstakingly clear that Crabtree is only about the money. If he truly cared about football he would have already accepted the 49ers’ original offer (which was for fair, market value by the way) and would be contributing on the field right now.

If it’s not killing Crabtree that his team is currently atop the NFC West standings at 2-1 and he can’t contribute in some way, then the 49ers should cut their losses and move on because the kid doesn’t have the fire to play.

And that’s just not going to fly on a team coached by Mike Singletary.

It’s amazing how unsung heroes emerge every week in the NFL.

For the Vikings, the unsung hero in their 27-24 win over the 49ers was receiver Greg Lewis (yes, the same Greg Lewis that never developed in Philadelphia), who made an unbelievable catch on a 32-yard pass from Brett Favre with two seconds remaining to propel Minnesota to victory.

Things looked bleak for the Vikes, who had relinquished several leads throughout the game and who appeared destined for a loss trailing 24-20 with only 1:29 left in the fourth. But Favre led Minnesota to the 49ers’ 32-yard line and with only 12 seconds remaining, zipped a pass to Lewis to earn an improbable win.

For the Niners, things went from bad to worse when it was discovered that running back Frank Gore would probably miss at least the next two weeks with a high ankle sprain. He rushed just one time for four yards against Minnesota before leaving the game.

The good news for San Fran is that although the Vikings took away the Niners’ running game, Shaun Hill was able to make plays threw the air. Vernon Davis had a big day, hauling in seven passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns as San Fran beat Minnesota’s Cover 2 defense by attacking the middle of the field.

The bad news for San Fran is that it blew the final play. Why were they in a normal defense when the game was on the line and Minnesota had to go 40 yards to score a touchdown to win? The 49ers should have had more defenders back to protect the only play that could hurt them and shouldn’t have allowed Lewis to sneak behind their coverage.

But Mike Singletary and the Niners will learn from the loss and move on. This is still a solid team and should be competitive all season.

The Washington Post asked me to participate in their NFL blog “The League” for the 2009 season. Below is a recent post I wrote for the site regarding Michael Crabtree’s contract holdout.

Mr. Crabtree,

I’m writing to you not as a professional adviser, your friend or even as someone who has your best interests at heart. I don’t know you, so I’d be lying if I said I had any kind of personal stake in your career.

But viewing this as an outsider, I have to warn you that you’ve been getting some bad advice somewhere along the way. I’ve been keeping track of your situation in San Francisco and I’ve got to tell you, you could be making one of the biggest mistakes of your life.

You see, you need to show more humility, Mr. Crabtree. Your agent came to the conclusion a long time ago that you were a top 3 pick and, thus, should be paid as such. But you weren’t a top 3 pick – you were the 10th overall pick and while that should have motivated you to prove yourself on the field, you’ve shown that you’re more concerned with money than with playing football.

That’s disappointing to me. As a sports fan, I appreciate it when athletes don’t hold out and they accept market value for their services. I appreciate it when they prove their worth on the field and allow the money situation to take care of itself.

Read the rest at the Washington Post’s The League.