Kendrick Bourne led all San Francisco 49ers wide receivers with 487 receiving yards last season. Coming in second was then-rookie Dante Pettis with 467 receiving yards. While no 49ers wide receiver gained over 500 yards receiving in 2018, five had 20-or-more catches.
Could Pettis be primed for a breakout sophomore season? 359 of his receiving yards last year and all but one of his five touchdowns came during the final five games of the season. Those are impressive numbers for someone fighting to separate himself from the pack.
But is that what he's trying to do?
Pettis isn't focused on being the team's top wideout. Instead, he is focused on being the best receiver he can be, and will let everything else work itself out.
Pettis spoke with reporters this past week and acknowledged that there isn't necessarily a No. 1 wide receiver on the roster. He also admitted that it probably doesn't matter because head coach Kyle Shanahan, who is also the team's offensive play caller, will use all of the weapons at his disposal.
"If I'm the top guy, great," Pettis said. "If Marquise (Goodwin) is the top guy, great. Someone's going to step up. I'm going to play the best football that I can play, and if that puts me at receiver one or whatever, great. If it doesn't, I know we're still going to be able to move the ball, score touchdowns, win some games.
"I don't think any of us are worried about who they see as being the No. 1 guy."
Players have a lot of faith in what Shanahan can do as a play caller. Pettis believes it's enough to help the offense find success.
"Whoever he wants to get the ball is going to get the ball," Pettis said. "If you're in that position, you might as well get open."
Shanahan told reporters in February that he has high expectations for Pettis heading into the 2019 season.
"I have big expectations for Dante," Shanahan said. "We did before we drafted him. We had it throughout this year, and we expect him to continue to get better. I think he went through the normal rookie-type ups and downs that a lot of them do as receivers.
"He came in strong in training camp, got a little banged up but was healthy enough for Week 1; did well Week 2. I think he had a touchdown in Week 1. Week [4], he got an injury that kind of set him back. He didn't get right until about Week 12. Then he finished the year very strong. He finished the year up probably as our best guy."
