On what has already been a busy day for them, the San Francisco 49ers traded with the Washington Redskins to get Washington Huskies’ wide receiver Dante Pettis.
The 49ers end up with the 44th pick (Pettis) and 142nd pick, while the Redskins, get the 59th and 74th.
“The first three years, I was pretty much an outside receiver,” said Pettis in a conference call with the media. “But, my last year there, they kind of moved me all around. I was playing outside and I was playing inside and they lined me up in the backfield and motioned me out. I did a lot of different things this last year, and it was a lot of fun.”
And he did them well. Pettis finished his college career with 24 touchdowns and 2,256 yards on 163 receptions, while setting an NCAA record for nine punt returns for touchdowns.
Clearly, punt returns are very much his thing.
“[O]bviously, I’m…a punt returner. I would like to continue doing that.,” said Pettis. “And if I need to be a kick returner, too, I’m open to that. I’m open to just whatever will help the team out.”
Pettis, whose father is former Major League Baseball player and five-time Gold Glove winner Gary Pettis, said that he is familiar with Kyle Shanahan’s offense and believes his skills will transfer well to the NFL.
“I mean, I’m hoping to do a lot of different things,” said Pettis. “Whether that’s taking a deep post, taking the top off of the defense or getting a little screen and breaking a few tackles, making a big play that way or just moving the chains on third down. You know, there’s a lot of different things that I feel I can do that I can translate into the NFL.”
Pettis will most likely see a lot of time at punt returner, at least to start.
*In other news, the Niners signed safety Jaqusiki Tartt to a two-year contract extension after trading Trent Brown to the New England Patriots for the 143rd pick in this year’s draft.
