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SANTA CLARA – To understand why Dante Pettis is the 49ers’ best recovery project at training camp, go back to last season, specifically her Super Bowl LIV defeat.
Pettis did not appear. He was a healthy scratch.
“If that doesn’t change the way anyone approaches the offseason, they don’t want to be in the NFL,” Pettis said Friday. “There are not too many things worse than that football weight you could go on to be inactive for the Super Bowl.
‘That was the last, last straw, I think. Especially after the offseason, there is not much more than that anyone can go. “
Pettis, in a compelling video call with reporters, emotionally recalled the passing of last season and how offensive it is in fact what looks like a staring comeback.
He has not played the last eight games of last season, a skid who started with a knee injury on November 29 and rolled into a bench to culminate his sub-par sophomore season.
What happened to him?
“I did not play how I should have played, how I knew I could play, how (critics) knew I could play, so it was probably fair,” Pettis said of the widespread criticism he received, including coach Kyle Shanahan, who demanded that Pettis return to his game with more urgency this season.
Shanahan traded up to draft Pettis in the second round of 2018. He went up five touchdowns that year, second-most in team history by a rookie. But he turned last season off course, and observers questioned her as he shook off the physical nature of football, all the while walking in and out of Shanahan’s dog house.
“Last year I took his coaching the wrong way, I think,” Pettis said. ‘I made it more personal and about myself and about myself realizing how well he knows I can be.
‘I was caught in the way he said some things and not the real message he was trying to get me. Once I realized that, everything changed. Our relationship is really good and it’s open. ”
Two days after Pettis’ best practice in centuries (five receptions, solid routes), Shanahan reacted with great excitement, confirming a new look he saw in Pettis when he first reported to camp three weeks ago.
‘I saw him immediately when he came in and we had to talk and you could just remember his thoughts, what his body was like, that he spent time away from us and did everything he could to put himself in the position to do this team and to be as successful as he can
be, ”said Shanahan. “That I’m so far very proud of Dante.”
Shanahan admired Pettis’ newfound, aggressive running nature trails. Pettis, on Friday, noted that a recipient should not only be judged on receiving totals, but her overall contribution to Shanahan’s misconduct.
Corner Sherlock, Richard Sherman, said Pettis’ made some really, really great steps that are consistent every day. His ceiling is so high and he’s reaching that peak now. ”
Last season, Pettis produced just 11 receptions for 109 yards and two touchdowns. As a final draft, the 49ers rode a first-round pick to wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, and stabbed him in a likely rotation with Deebo Samuel, Trent Taylor, Kendrick Bourne and, perhaps now, Pettis.
Pettis and Aiyuk apparently rotate on the unit of the first string. A year ago, the 49ers hoped that Pettis would develop into a start-to-starter, but by mid-season they were trading for Emmanuel Sanders and thus Pettis disappeared.
“I did not let myself be the player I know I am,” Pettis said. “There are just certain things I showed football and that is no longer the case.”
Pettis did not want to say specifically how he turned this course season, and only mentioned that he trained in a more purposeful way, in Orange County and San Francisco. That helped him get physical and mental this season, to try and break through barriers on a daily basis.
His goal of 2020: “To play for free, without anything holding me back. There are no specific goals, as I have 10 touchdowns if needed. But going in every day and getting to a point, when I exercise or am the weight room, that I know I have gotten better. ”
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