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49ers’ Dante Pettis shares his rookie-season goals
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Rooke wide receiver Dante Pettis was battling second-year starting cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon before he hauled in a deep 40-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo as Wednesday's practice came to a close.
"It was a fun day," Pettis told Damon Bruce on
95.7 The Game.
Pettis stole the show on Wednesday and appears to be improving with each practice.
"He's gotten better each day," head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters. "He's going through some of his rookie bumps like they all do but I think he's gotten better each day. It seemed like he had a real good day out there today and I hope it continues."
Pettis is still getting used to how things are done at the pro level. He was on a spread no-huddle team at Washington so just coming out of a huddle during practice instead of looking to the sideline for signals is an adjustment for the rookie receiver.
Pettis seems to be adjusting quickly. After signing his four-year rookie deal exactly one week ago, he is already turning heads in practice.
Many rookies entering the NFL, especially those at skill positions, are looking to make a splash during their first NFL season. Pettis, as he always does, sounded humble when discussing his goals for the 2018 season. Being a second-round draft pick hasn't gone to his head.
"Honestly, I don't even know what is reasonable," Pettis said. "My goal is to just help the team out so whether they need me to be the punt returner, or they need me to come in at slot every two plays, or go play outside, or if I have to (be a) backup, whatever it is, I'm just going to try to do that the best that I can.
"I don't really have anything tangible that I'm like, 'Oh yeah, I need this many yards. I need this many touchdowns,' or whatever. I think that's something that will come a little bit later as I kind of feel out the league and see how things go."
Pettis remembers his first year at Washington when one player took him under his wing and helped him out a lot. The environment is very different with the 49ers.
"Here, I feel like everybody always has something that they can help me out with," Pettis said. "So if they see something, they're not really afraid to come up and tell me what it is. So I think that's something that is pretty special about this group."
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