ANDY COMER: Michael Crabtree is an idiot

“Michael just wants fair market value. Michael is one of the best players in the draft, and he just wants to be paid like one of the best players,” Michael Crabtree’s cousin, David Wells, said in July to ESPN.

Note to Michael Crabtree: Quit letting your moron cousin talk for you.

Crabtree, a Dallas native who was an elite wide receiver at Texas Tech, was the first round draft pick of my favorite sports team, the San Francisco 49ers (who are 2-0 so far this season, by the way, Cowboys fans). I was elated that Crabtree fell to the Niners at the 10th pick; San Francisco hasn’t had a receiver of Crabtree’s caliber in about a decade. Even with a gimpy foot, I was convinced the Texan would be a perfect fit in the 49ers’ young offense.

Boy, was I wrong.

Crabtree was drafted by San Francisco in April and, as of this writing, has yet to even sign a contract with the team as the National Football League enters its third week of season play — he’s the only unsigned pick from this year’s draft. Apparently a reported $16 million in guaranteed money — plus another possible $20 million in incentives — isn’t enough for Crabtree to play in the NFL. He says he’s worth even more than the astronomical amount the Niners already want to give him because he should have been picked higher in the draft — which is absolutely idiotic.

If any of us regular folks made the demands Crabtree is, we’d likely be fired, or at best, laughed at. Using Crabtree’s logic, I want my boss to start paying me a higher salary because I had the potential to have majored in a more lucrative field than journalism when I was in college, even though I didn’t. Until I am paid more, I will stay home, play video games and drink Natural Light, activities that contribute about as much to the well-being of my “team,” The Monitor, as Crabtree’s refusal to participate with the 49ers does.

And if Michael doesn’t want to play, I will gladly take his place on the roster, and the 49ers won’t have to pay me the millions Crabtree demands. I’d even pay the 49ers out of my own pocket, mow the field before home games and sell beer during halftime just to be able to have the opportunity Crabtree does. At a time when many people in America are struggling to make ends meet, Michael needs to sign on the dotted line, take his $16 million and get his butt to practice with the rest of the team.

Rumors persist that Crabtree is willing to sit out the rest of the 2009 season and enter himself in the 2010 NFL draft in hopes that he would be picked higher than the No. 10 spot at which the 49ers chose him, and therefore garner more money, too. If that happens, Crabtree could very possibly be selected by the Cowboys; after all, if Dallas keeps playing as poorly as they are, Michael’s wish of becoming the top overall pick in the draft just might come true. Even Crabtree could make Tony Romo look good.

Andy Comer is the acting slot editor and a columnist for The Monitor. Contact him at acomer@themonitor.com.