Everyone in Crabtree's camp is quick to tell us that he's coming to town to negotiate, but the Niners say no negotiations are planned. Why is this? When the player comes himself, that usually means he's close to signing, but the team makes it sound as if they don't know what's going on...why? I have thought of several scenarios...one, several, or none of these may be true.

1. The Niners really don't have a meeting set up. Parker is just putting up the appearance of a meeting to soften Crabtree's image, or to make the advertising money happy.

2. There's no meeting set up, but Parker does want to meet, he just wants it on his terms..."We'll fly in and tell them how it's going to be."

3. The opposite of #2...the Niners, who clearly are trying to present themselves in a more aggressive light this year, have a meeting set up, but are keeping mum to give the impression that they are in control and playing hardball.

4. There's a meeting set up, but the Niners don't want to talk about it, in case it doesn't work out.

5. The Niners are afraid contract talks will detract from the positive momentum the team has right now, so they're keeping it on the down-low.

6. The meeting isn't scheduled, but will happen. Crabtree got tired of waiting so he told Parker, "I'm flying to SF to get a deal done. If you want to stay my agent, you're coming too."

7. The Niners have made concessions to Crabtree, but don't want to talk about it because they will look weak and other teams may get angry.

8. Crabtree realized we're not talking about him as much since the Niners as winning games without him, so Parker put on this big show to get attention, and more bargaining power.

9. Parker wants to set up a meeting, but feels that he will be at a disadvantage if he approaches McCloughan first. So, he's advertising the trip to the media instead, hoping Scotty calls him first, so he keeps some sort of upper hand.

10. Jed, by some accounts, asked for a meeting through the media, not by calling Parker personally. Parker is just following suit.

My gut says it's some combination of #4 and #5, with possibly #3 or #7 as side factors. What do you think? Feel free to add your own options here.

---------------------------------------------------------