Day 6, practice 10: Michael who?
The 49ers this afternoon issued a statement about the Michael Crabtree situation. The contract impasse is in Day 10. Crabtree will miss his 10th practice later today.
“The 49ers are not going to negotiate in the media,” a club spokesman said. “In our view, there have been positive and open communications between both sides.”
Just one more day, and then Crabtree takes his place on this ignominious list (and please let me know if you see this cited elsewhere without proper attribution):
Longest 49ers rookie contract stalemates
1975 DT Jimmy Webb (Rd. 1, No. 10): 43 days.
1969 TE Ted Kwalick (Rd. 1, No. 7): 25 days.
1986 DL Larry Roberts (Rd. 2, No. 39): 16 days.
1997 QB Jim Druckenmiller (Rd 1, No. 26): 15 days
1989 LB Keith DeLong (Rd 1, No. 28): 13 days.
2000 LB Julian Peterson (Rd 1, No. 16): 12 days
1995 WR J.J. Stokes (Rd 1, No. 10): 11 days
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Injury update: Fullback Moran Norris (hamstring) participated in some individual work, as did linebacker Parys Haralson (hip). Receiver Josh Morgan sustained a neck strain in the morning practice, but he returned to full participation.
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Here are the deets from this morning’s practice:
–Quarterback Alex Smith, coming off a strong showing on the practice field Wednesday, opened 11 on 11 with . . . with . . . uh, with an interception. He tried to fit the ball into Josh Morgan on a crossing route, and linebacker Takeo Spikes was in the perfect position to make the pick. Smith’s only other incomplete pass was on the same route to Morgan.
–Smith completed 5 of 7 passing attempts, while Shaun Hill completed 6 of 7. His only incomplete pass came on a hot read when he tried to dump it off to J.J. Finley, but the first-year tight end did not turn around in time.
–Hill showed his ability to improvise on one play. He threw a short pass to Josh Morgan as if he were a submarine pitcher, getting it underneath the wingspan of an on-rushing blitzer off the edge.
–Afterward, when asked about their AWOL rookie, neither Smith nor Hill seemed too concerned. Apparently, there is not a whole lot of talk in the locker room about the No. 10 overall pick in the draft.
–The 49ers’ backs are working hard. Frank Gore has not taken off a practice. Glen Coffee and Kory Sheets are both seeing a lot of action and taking a pounding. Coffee was drilled by Dashon Goldson on an inadvertent hit.
–Several minutes after Vernon Davis got reprimanded for squaring off against Marques Harris, there was another brief skirmish when Cody Wallace and Aubrayo Franklin rolled around a little. Neither received an on-field lecture, though.
–Nate Davis finished up the 11-on-11 session as the “young guys” took the field. Sheets got four running plays.
–Here’s my take on Nate Davis’ future with the 49ers: The team should place him on the 53-man roster, keeping Hill, Smith and Damon Huard ahead of him. The 49ers will keep four quarterbacks anyway (active roster and practice squad). The last few spots on the 53-man roster are taken by players who do not suit up for games anyway. Last year, the Buccaneers had a similar situation with fifth-round pick Josh Johnson. They went ahead and kept Jeff Garcia, Luke McCown and Brian Griese on the roster, along with Johnson.
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This question has been asked a lot, so I’m going to address it here. If the 49ers were unable to reach a contract agreement with Crabtree and he went back in the draft, the 49ers would be out of luck. The NFL does not give out mulligans for draft picks. If that were the case, just think, there might be a lot of teams every year failing to sign their picks on purpose to load up for a strong draft.
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