Wide receiver Dante Pettis opened his NFL career with a touchdown catch in the first week of the 2018 season and had three catches in his first two games before a lengthy dry spell.
Pettis missed time with injury and had to deal with the loss of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, both of which contributed to going without a catch until Week 10. Things perked up from there with 24 catches for 371 yards and four touchdowns in the team’s final six games and there’s optimism about where things will go from there.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan said that he hoped Pettis would “come back even hungrier” after a strong end to the season and he got what he was looking for from the 2018 second-round pick.
“When I saw him the first week he got back to see the size that he had put on, not that he’s going to be real noticeably different to everyone, but he worked while he was gone,” Shanahan said, via NBCSportsBayArea.com. “He worked while he was away. He tried to get bigger. He worked more at his routes and he came here with the idea of ‘Hey, I’m not just coming here to get better back in shape, I’m coming here to get better.’”
The 49ers were active at wide receiver this offseason with Deebo Samuel, Jalen Hurd and Jordan Matthews joining the team. Marquise Goodwin remains on hand as well, so it should be a competitive camp at wideout this summer.