SAN FRANCISCO—49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, who has worked with such receiving greats as Tim Brown, Marvin Harrison, and Jerry Rice over the course of his career, found reason to praise his current top pass-catcher last week when he claimed Michael Crabtree has “far and away the most mouth-watering and lickable hands” of any receiver playing today or any he has ever coached. “Larry Fitzgerald’s hands are soft and Calvin Johnson’s are strong, to be sure, but Michael’s are the perfect balance of sweet and savory,” Harbaugh said Friday during an interview on Bay Area sports radio station KNBR-680, adding that their unique tang was a major reason Crabtree caught 72 passes in the 2011 season. “They’re pretty big, too, so you have to be careful you don’t gag on them.” When host Kevin Lynch asked, after an extended pause, if Harbaugh was satisfied with the way Crabtree’s footwork had improved over his career, Harbaugh refused comment, saying only “feet are gross.”

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