Michael Crabtree: The New 49ers Wideout Looks To Silence Doubters

(Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

San Francisco 49ers' first round pick Michael Crabtree has the tools to become elite receiver in the league. And with the 49ers trying to establish a solid offense to compliment the potential of the receiver, you would think that the rookie would be attentive to all the details of the first OTAs.

Well, not exactly.

Crabtree was sighted to be looking around, not paying attention to the play on the field while he stood on the sidelines. Crabtree's foot has sidelined him from any physical activities on the field for the OTAs, but it would be encouraging, at least, to see him being attentive to the offense.

The following day, Crabtree was standing right next to offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye trying to learn as much as he could about the new playbook. That's a good sign to me.

Crabtree is an interesting case. The foot injury does put a damper in his growth this rookie season. Since he has to stand on the sideline and wait, it becomes a little harder to learn the playbook without actually participating on the field with the rest of the teammates.

But I am glad that he is trying to learn as much as possible while waiting for his time to hit the field.

And obviously, once he hits the field, he might want to prove to some doubters of his "diva" title. Well, I wouldn't say he is a diva, but he has a lot on his plate once he is ready to make catches on the field.

I'm very hopeful for Crabtree. Since the departure of Terrell Owens in 2003, the 49ers haven't had a big name receiver.

The last one was Antonio Bryant, but he never gave himself the opportunity to excel with his attitude problem. Crabtree could be that kind of big receiver, if not bigger. But let's just hope there is no attitude problem with his game.

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