It appears 49ers first-round draft pick Michael Crabtree still might have a shot at turning his well-documented 71-day contract holdout into a distant memory after all is said and done this season. Crabtree and his agent, Eugene Parker, finally agreed to a reported six-year deal — which can be voided to five years should the 10th overall pick in the 2009 draft meet undefined performance clauses — after meeting well into the night with Niners owner Jed York, GM Scot McCloughan and V.P. of football operations and in-house contract negotiator Paraag Marathe for the first time face-to-face in three weeks. Specific terms of the deal have yet to be revealed, but the prevailing initial belief in league circles is that, by jacking up the deal to six years  — the Niners had been holding firm on a five-year offer of $20 million, with $16 million guaranteed to Crabtree — the team’s No. 1 pick could end up possibly approaching the amount the Raiders are paying WR Darius Heyward-Bey (five years, $38.3 million, $23.5 million guaranteed), the seventh overall pick.

But the contract terms of Crabtree’s deal, as well as the tampering charge that had been levied by the Niners against the Jets, which reportedly will continue to be pursued by the Niners, have suddenly become mere trifles compared to the instantly red-hot question that is being bandied about the Bay Area today: After missing all of the offseason minicamps and OTAs, 57 practices and the Niners' first four games, can Crabtree still provide an impact this season for a 3-1 team off to its best start since 2002?

The PFW spin

Team observers whom PFW has been talking to on a near-daily basis believe Crabtree can still be an impact player this season, although as Niners QB Shaun Hill was quick to declare, “I haven’t thrown a single pass to him.”

It would seem there’s absolutely no way Crabtree will figure in the mix when the Niners invade Atlanta this Sunday. But with a bye coming the next week, Crabtree could start catching up quickly as far as adapting to the team’s offense. “I could see him throwing a lot with Alex Smith, which he’s already done, during the off week,” said one team insider. “And the Niners really have a pretty simple scheme (to learn).”

The team insider made note of the fact the Niners ran a lot of bubble screens in their last game against the Rams that are similar to the ones Crabtree ran at Texas Tech, where he piled up 41 TDs in a two-year career (did we mention that Josh Morgan’s 24-yard TD catch against the Rams was the first by a Niners receiver this season)?

Of course, there is still a major concern regarding all the time Crabtree has missed and how long it will take him to get back into playing shape both physically and mentally. “Esssentially,” the insider said, “the last time he really did anything football-wise was at Texas Tech.”

As for the perception of Crabtree as a diva who could end up being more of a distraction than a key contributor, the early feeling among people close to the team is that he couldn’t be in better hands than those of Niners head coach Mike Singletary, who has said on the record frequently that he really likes Crabtree as a person and would look forward to working with him.

Using Singletary’s extremely successful tough-love approach with Niners TE Vernon Davis as an example, our sources in San Francisco believe Singletary will embrace Crabtree in a similar fashion and be in a good position to “push all the right buttons.”

Can he push enough buttons to turn Crabtree into the team’s No. 1 receiver down the stretch, which was the hope when the Niners neglected other more serious needs to draft him when he was still surprisingly available at the No. 10 spot?

Stay tuned and enjoy the ride, as the Michael Crabtree saga has taken a very intriguing turn at the 2009 season’s quarter pole.

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