Crabtree signs with SF. Queue the conspiracy music!

So first round draft pick Michael Crabtree finally signed with the 49ers today, 72 days after contract talks began on July 28th. Okay that's all well and good; we need a a gamebreaker at wideout (and have since TO took his sorry ass to Philly) and we finally got one. What I find interesting here is the timing.

--September 20th. Crabtree is the only NFL rookie yet to sign with his respective team. Crabtree's agent Eugene Parker and the 49er brass are apparently "far apart" from coming to an agreement to get Crabtree signed.

--September 21st. The 49ers accuse the New York Jets of tampering and file charges with the NFL. The Jets deny the allegations. The 49ers believe the Jets contacted Parker, to let him know they'd be interested in trading for Crabtree's rights, or in drafting him in 2010 with a better salary than the 49ers were offering. Both of these are totally illegal under NFL draft regs.

--October 5th. Talented but drama-prone former UM wideout Braylon Edwards is involved in yet another off the field fracas. The Brown are publicly displeased with this display of douchery, especially in light of Edwards' stinking it up on the field this year.

--October 6th. Edwards trade talks begin between the Cleveland Browns and--wait for it!--the NY Jets. Perhaps not coincidentally, Crabtree and his agent Parker charter a plane and fly to SF to begin contract negotiations with the 49ers brass.

--October 7th. Edwards is officially traded to the Jets. Crabtree and the 49ers finalize their deal within an hour.

So let's see here...the team that was accused of tampering with the contract status of an Elite WR A manages to sign another Elite WR B via a completely different set of circumstances. The moment this happens Elite WR A loses all leverage and he and his agent start capitulating like the French in 1940. So call me crazy but I have to think Rex Ryan and the Jets were completely full of shit when they so vehemently DENIED said tampering charges.

And somehow lost in all this drama is the fact that the mystery matchmaker that media sources are crediting with getting both sides together at the 11th hour is none other than MC Hammer. No, you can't make this stuff up, people. Apparently Hammer is an associate of both Eugene Parker and 49ers COO Andy Dolich; Parker from his current circle and Dolich from the days when Hammer went by Stanley Burrell and was a bat boy for the Oakland A's.

Hey, whateva; we got us a wideout and look to be playoff bound. As my man Stanley says: