Crabtree is one of 30 unsigned first-round picks

Niners rookies are scheduled to report in eight days, but the 49ers have a built-in cushion. Sure, they’d like to get everybody signed for the July 28 reporting date, but their first practice is scheduled four days later, Aug. 1.

During those four days, the rookies will take part in conditioning, weight-room training and thorough classroom work, a club spokesman said. The rookies will learn the team’s procedures and rules so everybody knows precisely what is expected of them.

 

Three of the 49ers’ rookies remain unsigned. It is common for teams to get their first-round picks signed just under the wire – or shortly thereafter.

 

Word is that the deals for third-round pick Glen Coffee and fifth-rounder Nate Davis are nearly completed. Both sides are just waiting for a few more players chosen in those rounds to sign in order to solidify the exact amount of their signing bonuses.

 

With first-round selection Michael Crabtree, it will probably take a little longer. After all, only two first-round selections have signed their deals – both quarterbacks. No. 1 overall pick Matthew Stafford signed with the Lions before the draft, and the Jets have inked Mark Sanchez.

 

After the Coffee and Davis deals are completed, the Crabtree negotiations should be straight forward.

 

The 49ers were allotted $4.1 million in the rookie salary pool. They’ve used 34 percent of that figure for the draft picks who have signed, as well as their crop of undrafted rookies. The 49ers have $2.69 million in 2009 cap room available for Crabtree, Coffee and Davis.

 

Crabtree’s cap figure this year will be what’s left after Coffee and Davis sign their deals. Then, there’s the matter of guaranteed money. The No. 10 overall pick last year, the Patriots’ Jerod Mayo, signed a five-year contract with about $13.8 million in guaranteed money.

 

In 2007, guaranteed money for first-round picks averaged $10.853 million. Last year, the average climbed 9.1 percent to $11.912 million. A similar increase this year would mean approximately $15 million guaranteed in Crabtree’s deal.

 

I asked one NFL insider if it Crabtree’s agent, Eugene Parker, could ask for the kind of money the Raiders will give Darrius Heyward-Bey, the No. 7 pick. Because the perception is that Crabtree should’ve been the first receiver selected, could Parker ask for a contract equal to or greater than Heyward-Bey’s?

 

“No,” the source said. “That’s not logical. If that were the case, Aaron Rodgers should’ve gotten $23.99 million (in 2005).”

 

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Since 2005, the 49ers have gotten their draft picks into camp on time the past four years. Prior to that, first-round selections Mike Rumph (2002) missed three practices, Kwame Harris (2003) got his deal done after the first practice, and Rashaun Woods (2004) sat out one day.

 

Clearly, those were bad omens.

 

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Six teams will begin training camp this week. The Browns’ rookies are scheduled to report on Friday. The Bills, Texans, Patriots, Eagles and Chargers get going this weekend.

 

Seventeen clubs will stay home to train this summer. In 2000, only four teams stayed close to home for training camp. The 49ers have held training camp at their Santa Clara facility since 2003. They trained from 1998 to 2002 at University of the Pacific in Stockton after spending 17 years at Sierra College in Rocklin.

 

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