It’s looking more and more like 49ers WR Michael Crabtree will be a holdout when the team starts training camp on Tuesday. The 2 sides are nowhere near an agreement because Crabtree thinks he’s a better player than his draft spot (10th overall) would pay him. Any missed time would severely hurt Crabtree’s chances of starting in Week 1. He was limited during OTAs because of his foot surgery and has to beat out WRs Isaac Bruce, Brandon Jones, and Jason Hill for playing time. Bruce and Josh Morgan will open training camp as the starters.

Michael Crabtree is reportedly looking for top-3 money, according to one league source.  If Crabtree ends up getting his wish, the price tag of the draft picks around him will go up as well.  Only four 1st-rounders have signed so far, largely because of Crabtree.  Of course, the more camp time he misses, the less likely he is to start week 1 of the regular season.

Matt Barrows from The Sacramento Bee had this to say regarding rookie WR Michael Crabtree this weekend: “The big news of the day — and this is all relative — is that rookie receiver Michael Crabtree was seen sprinting with trainers. Now I’m not here 24 hours a day, so I don’t know Crabtree’s exact rehab regimen after foot surgery in March. But as far as I can tell, this is the first time Crabtree’s actually run — and run fairly hard — on the foot since the procedure. Under the supervision of strength coach Duane Carlisle, Crabtree ran perhaps a dozen sprints of about 40 yards on the team’s artificial field. He seemed to be going about three-quarters speed.” HC Mike Singletary expects Crabtree to be ready for camp. If he checks out healthy, Crabtree could be a decent contributor in his rookie year.

Updating earlier reports from this week, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat is reporting that Michael Crabtree is still rehabbing his foot. HC Mike Singletary said that Crabtree has to continue rehab to have a chance to participate in camp.