Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

Apparently Michael Crabtree could start in the San Francisco 49ers upcoming game against the Houston Texans. Of course, if this had been announced earlier in the year, before the season started, it might not have been such interesting news. Crabtree was widely considered the best wide receiver in college football over the past two years; some even considered him to be the the best player in the entire 2009 draft.

Yes, prior to the beginning of the season, it would not be surprising to see him in the starting line up. It might even be expected. Coming a quarter of the way into the season, though, it is very interesting news.

Crabtree only signed a contract at the beginning of the month, making him, by a very long way, the last rookie to sign with his team – 5 games into the campaign. He hasn’t played for the 49ers yet. And the team has been looking good, too. They’re off to their most successful start in a while, beginning the season 3-2, and they currently sit atop the NFC West. Josh Morgan, whose spot Crabtree will be taking, has had some success, too.

The team is coming off a bye week this week, and their players have been allowed to travel home to be with their family – all except Crabtree, who remains at the practice facility getting up to speed with the offense. And poor old Morgan has had to stay behind to help him learn the position. He is literally teaching the man who has walked in and taken his position.

A low blow, perhaps. And an interesting move all together: it shows other players that you can hold out and not suffer any consequences. But then, it is Michael Crabtree we’re talking about here. He is one of the most explosive, prolific and hyped players to come into the league since Reggie Bush.

I think if I were Mike Singletary, I would play him too.

I find that I have no sympathy for NFL players who hold out on their contracts. Of course, my frustration is probably nothing compared to how much it annoys the teams in question – especially in the case of first round draft picks like Michael Crabtree.

After reading this article, it’s Crabtree that I’m mostly thinking about, I suppose. He is one of the players I followed quite closely before the draft, and I was really looking forward to watching him play, when he was picked in the first round. In college, he utterly dominated, earning back to back awards for the best wide receiver in the nation. He is an explosive player with fantastic hands, and he would have made the San Fransisco 49ers an instantly entertaining offensive team. In fact, he was very probably the best player in the draft.

The trouble is that he knows that. It’s just that with an injury preventing him working out for teams, he dropped a little lower in the draft than he would have anticipated. On top of that, another receiver was picked before him, which he will probably have taken as a personal insult. Now he wants paying, and he wants paying more money that the 49ers want to give him as the 10th pick in the draft. In fact, he’s even threatening to hold out the entire season, and re-enter the draft in a years time.

That’s the sort of thing that really annoys me. I would have assumed that, after dedicating over half your life to the game of American football, and hoping and dreaming to play in the NFL, when you finally get that opportunity you would take it in a heartbeat. Should the money really matter, if you are going to make a living playing a game, and a game that you love? You don’t have to work 9-5 in an office, answering phones and sitting behind a computer screen – you are playing sport for a living. And, no matter how disappointing he found the offer, it would have still been in the millions per year.

And that just really amazes me.