So let’s assume that 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree decides to sit out the entire 2009 season and re-enter the draft, due to his discontent with the team’s contract offer.
As multiple sources have advised us in the wake of our report that agent Eugene Parker has told the Niners that Crabtree is willing to take his chances in 2010, there’s a problem with that plan.
The 49ers will continue to hold his rights up until draft day.
And so, without the permission of the 49ers, Crabtree can’t go to the Scouting Combine. He can’t work out for any teams. He can’t meet with any teams. He can’t talk to any teams.
It’s not a CBA term, but a league rule. Thus, the union might try to challenge the ability to keep Crabtree from properly re-positioning himself in the next draft.
Moreover, nothing will prevent Crabtree from working out for the media, or from issuing press releases (or tweets) regarding his speed in the 40-yard dash, which wasn’t measured this year due to his foot injury.
But most scouts will want to cut through the possible B.S. and see for themselves how fast Crabtree can run, and whether he can do all the other things that the scouts like to see before using a first-round pick on a player.
Even if Crabtree were able to work out, some teams would shy away from him due simply to the fact that he created so much havoc for the 49ers.
So even though Crabtree seems sufficiently brash to give it a try, he and his agent need to think it all through a lot more carefully before using the draft-pick equivalent of the nuclear option.