"The 49ers' resident man of mystery, wide receiver Michael Crabtree, arrived Monday on the first day of a player-initiated minicamp, working with quarterback Alex Smith just days after Smith seemed to call him out for not practicing with his teammates.

After a 90-minute workout with most of the team's offensive skill-position players, Crabtree said he has been practicing regularly in the Bay Area during the NFL lockout.

"I've been here for almost two months, working out every day," Crabtree said. "That's what you all don't (understand)."

The rub is, Crabtree has not worked out with his teammates at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium. Instead, he was working out somewhere else.

"Routes, every day," Crabtree said. "I do just what they have been doing here. At a park. Nice field. It's in the mountains, too."

So why not come down to the South Bay flatland and catch passes from not only Smith, but backup David Carr and rookie Colin Kaepernick?

Crabtree said he prefers working out on his own so he can try things without embarrassing himself.

"That's just the way I've been my whole life," he said. "But when we have team functions, I'm a team player."

Crabtree said he has had a few college players work out with him.

Nevertheless, wouldn't it be better to establish a chemistry with Smith, particularly because Crabtree held out into October as a rookie in 2009 and missed most of training camp last year with a strained neck?

To answer that question, Crabtree said he wasn't sure Smith would be the starting quarterback. Coach Jim Harbaugh said after April's NFL draft that he expected Smith to sign and win the job over Kaepernick."