With fantasy football owners starting the process of planning for their 2019 drafts, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Dante Pettis is a player to watch in the later rounds.
In 2018, then-rookie wide receiver Dante Pettis managed a mere 467 yards off 27 receptions with five touchdowns, as the San Francisco 49ers struggled getting their wide receivers into the mix on a regular basis.
For fantasy football, Pettis' numbers last year don't exactly suggest a viable option for fantasy football owners. He might have been a waiver-wire pickup, at best, in deeper leagues. But to suggest he would be worth a roster spot last year might have been something of a reach.
Don't expect that to be the case in 2019, though.
Keep in mind, the vast majority of Pettis' stats last year came over the final five games of the season. During that stretch, he managed four touchdowns and averaged 71.8 yards per contest.
Dante Pettis got off to a sluggish start in 2018. But over his final five games, he averaged 71.8 receiving yards per contest and had four touchdowns.
Extrapolated over a 16-game season, that's 1,148 yards and 12 touchdowns. That's entering WR1 territory, folks. #49ers #49wz
— Peter Panacy (@PeterPanacy) May 20, 2019
Pettis' best game last season came in Week 13 against the Seattle Seahawks, in which he recorded 24.7 fantasy points, per Pro Football Reference, after registering five catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns. Granted, most of those stats came in garbage time, and the Niners would go on to lose 43-16. But fantasy owners don't care about final scores.
The stats are what matter.
ESPN fantasy expert Matt Bowen predicts Pettis to have a breakout season in 2019. He wrote:
[In] Weeks 12-14, Pettis was WR6 in fantasy, outscoring both Julio Jones and Antonio Brown. Again, this is a small sample size we are talking about, but of the wide receivers with at least 40 targets in 2018, Pettis was the only player who averaged 10 air yards per target and seven yards after the catch.
If there was a knock against Pettis entering last year, it was he was slightly undersized to handle some of the press coverage he'd take on at the pro level. Pettis revealed on Twitter he added weight during the offseason. And as long as that doesn't cut into his route-running abilities, this should serve to make him a more versatile weapon.
So should a full year in 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's offense, which is predicated on separation and creating yards after the catch. The possible results from this kind of offense are a fantasy football owner's dream, and Pettis is poised to take full advantage of it if he can stay healthy.
Currently, Fantasy Football Calculator has Pettis as the No. 31 overall wide receiver with an average draft position (ADP) of 7.03 (third pick in Round 7) in 12-team, points-per-reception leagues.
As a WR or FLEX option in standard leagues, this is about as good as it gets. Pettis hasn't established himself as a bona fide fantasy stud. But he serves to benefit from the return of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, as well as the emergence of tight end George Kittle. Opposing teams are likely to shift focus on covering Kittle after he set the single-season record for most receiving yards by a tight end (1,377) last year, meaning Pettis should get plenty of second-option looks tossed in his direction.
And if he can replicate his efforts from the last five games of 2018, those fantasy owners taking a late flier on Pettis should be well rewarded.