Michael Crabtree
Michael Crabtree Now that Michael Crabtree has agreed to a new six-year deal with the 49ers after sitting out the first five weeks of the season, the 10th over all pick will make his Niners debut in week 7 against the Houston Texans.

While the rest of the 49ers will be off to their bye week destinations, Crabtree will be hard at work making up for lost time. According to the team, he will be at team headquarters catching passes from Alex Smith.

Niners coach Mike Singletary said after the former Texas Tech star signed last week he expected Crabtree to be ready by next weekend, and the coach is pleased with the progress he's made so far in practice.

"Oh, he will play," Singletary said. "Michael's doing fine. He's working his tail off. I think every day he gets out here and every rep that he takes, it makes him that much better. He's been studying
his tail off and it shows when he's out here. He doesn't have a whole lot of questions on the field. He's running the right routes, he's doing the right things. It's just a matter of us taking every step with every second, every minute to get him up to speed and ready to go."

San Francisco plans to use Crabtree in the slot on third downs against the Texans. Offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye has reportedly been working over-time with his new wide-out and the 49ers coaching staff has been pleased with his progress.

Crabtree is proving to be an even faster learner as coach Singletary had expected. His first game will be merely 2 1/2 weeks after he finally agreed to a six-year contract with $17 million guaranteed.

"I wanted to be out there," Crabtree said. "It's hard to watch games from the sideline when you're part of an organization. I was happy to be there and see how things go before I got on the field."