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| 49ers' WR Michael Crabtree has made at least one catch in each of his 50 career NFL games. (US Presswire) |
Laid back, shy and humble.
Not exactly the public perception of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree, but for teammates, it couldn’t be truer.
They scoff at the diva label he’s picked up as a result of his initial contract holdout and habit of wearing sunglasses in postgame press conferences. Rather, his peers see a hard-working guy, a good teammate and even a role model.
“I know people have seen him with the glasses on and thinking he’s Hollywood, but he’s a down to earth guy, a cool cat,” said DE Ricky Jean Francois, who came into league with Crabtree in 2009. “I hope that nobody takes that the wrong way when he’s got those glasses on.
“I hope people don’t look at it like, ‘Oh, he’s a prima donna.’”
It’d be easy to assume Crabtree is just that, but on a day-to-day basis, it’s quite the opposite. The two-time Fred Biletnikoff Award winner at Texas Tech is anything but an attention-seeker. He regularly declines interview requests (including one for this story) and is among the most soft-spoken players on the team.
For Crabtree, the focus is clearly football first, everything else second.
“He’s grown from being a rookie to now being a fourth-year vet,” Francois said. “He is always working out. You would see him in the weight room and be like, ‘Man, you can’t work out that much in the offseason.’
“Given the time he spends working out and the talent he already had, it’s a good combination.”
And despite the 49ers’ offseason addition of receivers Randy Moss, Mario Manningham and A.J. Jenkins, Crabtree’s production is up this year too. With 39 catches for 440 yards and three touchdowns through San Francisco's first eight games, he’s on pace to pass his career highs in receptions (72), yards (874) and equal his career-best in touchdowns (six).
He has yet to be held without at least one catch in 50 career NFL games. Dating back to his record-setting career at Texas Tech, he’s caught a pass in 76 straight games, including two or more receptions in 70 of those games.
“(Crabtree has) done an outstanding job in all the different phases that a receiver can do a good job in,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Catching the ball. He made some great catches for us. Route running’s been very good. Physical in the blocking, in the physical game. And yards after the catch, he’s done a real fantastic job catching and running the ball.”
In his five-catch, 72-yard performance against Arizona two weeks ago on Monday Night Football, Crabtree hauled in two touchdowns for the second time in his NFL career. Never had it been more evident than on those two scores that Crabtree and quarterback Alex Smith were in sync.
“On the first touchdown, perfectly thrown ball and great hands catch. Great strong hands catch by Michael on the stop fade,” Harbaugh said. “And then Michael’s second touchdown, just two guys again, making a play, being on the same page. Knowing body language, seeing body language, made eye contact and the two of them made a play. I think that evidence speaks for itself, two guys on the same page.”
With the depth at receiver, Jenkins, the team’s first-round pick, hasn’t found his way onto the field. That hasn’t deterred him from learning as much as possible, and Crabtree has been a main cog in that process.
“He’s shown me the ropes, shown me how to run certain routes, shown me this and that. Great teammate to have,” Jenkins said. “Really laid back, real cool, real humble dude.”
Crabtree’s statistics don’t measure up to some of the upper-echelon receivers in the league (he’s tied for 28th in catches and ranks 44th in yards), but that's more the result of playing on the league’s top-ranked rushing team with other talented receivers than an indication of any deficiencies on his part.
The consistent knock on Crabtree’s game during his first three years was his perceived lack of run-after-the-catch ability. That’s been put to rest this year, too. He ranks 10th in the league with 238 yards after the catch and of the five wide receivers with more yards after the catch, only Percy Harvin averages more (8.3) than Crabtree (6.1).
“Very determined when he has the ball in his hands,” said Harbaugh, who in the offseason claimed Crabtree has “the best hands I’ve ever seen on a wide receiver.”
Not a bad combination. Just don’t ask him to talk about it. He’d rather just play.
Follow 49ers reporter Kyle Bonagura on Twitter @CBS49ers and @KyleBonagura.
