49ers Select Dante Pettis, WR, Washington#44 Overall

[Chrissooner49er]

Oh, I call HYPERBOLE! Definitely not the same as Garnett. There really was a run on WRs in that round. You cannot bank on Pettis being there at 59. AT ALL. 

You do recall we got some of our past greats on trade ups, right?! Why not just relax and wait and see what happens?

BTW, the horse is dead and you're still beating it. 

[y2lamanaki]

I was watching one of Pettis's highlight reels, and one of the announcers commented about him passing DeSean Jackson for the Pac-12 return record after one of his returns - this prompted me to look more into the college leaderboard for returns.

There is a pretty good carryover for return guys who did well in college to the NFL at the receiver position. Wes Welker, Santana Moss, DeSean Jackson, Ted Ginn, Jamison Crowder. All are at least serviceable receivers, too. Might be a good indicator that his skillset will transfer well.

[big9erfan]

Some of his punt returns have been amazing. A lot of guys do it without really having any special skill at it. I think he's one of those rare guys who is actually really gifted at returning punts. He makes guys miss, finds a hole and has really good vision of the entire field so he can work his way down  the field.

[Ronnie's Pinky]

5 hours ago, big9erfan said:

Some of his punt returns have been amazing. A lot of guys do it without really having any special skill at it. I think he's one of those rare guys who is actually really gifted at returning punts. He makes guys miss, finds a hole and has really good vision of the entire field so he can work his way down  the field.

He also sets up his blocks well, consistently works back to the middle of the field rather than staying on the sideline, runs through arm tackles, and has the agility and body control not to get tackled by the feet.

[big9erfan]

12 hours ago, Ronnie's Pinky said:

He also sets up his blocks well, consistently works back to the middle of the field rather than staying on the sideline, runs through arm tackles, and has the agility and body control not to get tackled by the feet.

Yep. I think I remember our new FO talking about wanting more explosion plays. They can be in the return game as well as the running and passing game. I don't think we'vew had a guy that I thought stood out as a returner since Ginn.

[JIllg]

23 hours ago, big9erfan said:

Yep. I think I remember our new FO talking about wanting more explosion plays. They can be in the return game as well as the running and passing game. I don't think we'vew had a guy that I thought stood out as a returner since Ginn.

And all of that juicy YAC off of Garoppolo's throws to the correct shoulder. Guys like Celek and Bourne were racking it up last year even while decently well covered because the pass let them keep stride. An in stride Pettis is considerably more dangerous.

[Ronnie's Pinky]

3 hours ago, JIllg said:

And all of that juicy YAC off of Garoppolo's throws to the correct shoulder. Guys like Celek and Bourne were racking it up last year even while decently well covered because the pass let them keep stride. An in stride Pettis is considerably more dangerous.

Yeah, Pettis' open field running ability is almost certainly one of the things that attracted Kyle to him. I could see Dante catching some screens this season, as well as taking jet sweeps, and reverses. Think he will be more a part of the running game than any other receiver on the roster in year one. Kyle loves that kind of receiver/runner flexibility, and probably plans on getting Pettis out in space and seeing what he can do.

[NinerNation21]

So this might stir the pot a bit, but I was just listening to Matt Maiocco's podcast and he had Pettis on as his guest. This is complete paraphrasing, but Maiocco asked if he knew where he was going to be selected and Pettis said that 49ers really liked him and contacted his agent on day 2 and asked if they thought Pettis would still be available at 74. Pettis was kind of difficult to follow during his answer, but essentially, he thought he was going to go in the third and there were other teams interested in him at the top of the 3rd. As we all know, we then traded up to 44 to take him, 30 picks higher than where they wanted to take him. 

This is only my guess, but hearing that there were multiple teams ready to take him at the top of 3rd makes me think they all got into a bidding war and were trying to jump each other with the 49ers winning it by trading in front of someone who was about to take him in the middle of the second.

[Chrissooner49er]

6 minutes ago, NinerNation21 said:

So this might stir the pot a bit, but I was just listening to Matt Maiocco's podcast and he had Pettis on as his guest. This is complete paraphrasing, but Maiocco asked if he knew where he was going to be selected and Pettis said that 49ers really liked him and contacted his agent on day 2 and asked if they thought Pettis would still be available at 74. Pettis was kind of difficult to follow during his answer, but essentially, he thought he was going to go in the third and there were other teams interested in him at the top of the 3rd. As we all know, we then traded up to 44 to take him, 30 picks higher than where they wanted to take him. 

This is only my guess, but hearing that there were multiple teams ready to take him at the top of 3rd makes me think they all got into a bidding war and were trying to jump each other with the 49ers winning it by trading in front of someone who was about to take him in the middle of the second.

This is very possible. I know I am one who is perfectly happy with this pick, regardless of where it happened. This was the one WR I wanted to be a 9er most.

[NinerNation21]

17 minutes ago, Chrissooner49er said:

This is very possible. I know I am one who is perfectly happy with this pick, regardless of where it happened. This was the one WR I wanted to be a 9er most.

I'm starting to warm up to that. The more I read about him and watch his tape, the more I get why Shanahan wanted him. Shanahan wants guys that can catch the ball, have an excellent grasp of route running, can separate from defenders, and has top-level athleticism. Pettis checks all of those boxes and is a high-character guy and adds another play-making dimension to his game.

[Chrissooner49er]

Day 2 was my day...first we took Pettis, then we took Warner! I was flying high. Next one was Moore and I thought "Ok, I'm alright with that"...then Saturday happened. Only pick I really liked was Reed on that day. 

Still, thought it is a pretty good draft overall but especially Pettis, Warner, McGlinchey, Reed, Moore.

[Forge]

35 minutes ago, NinerNation21 said:

So this might stir the pot a bit, but I was just listening to Matt Maiocco's podcast and he had Pettis on as his guest. This is complete paraphrasing, but Maiocco asked if he knew where he was going to be selected and Pettis said that 49ers really liked him and contacted his agent on day 2 and asked if they thought Pettis would still be available at 74. Pettis was kind of difficult to follow during his answer, but essentially, he thought he was going to go in the third and there were other teams interested in him at the top of the 3rd. As we all know, we then traded up to 44 to take him, 30 picks higher than where they wanted to take him. 

This is only my guess, but hearing that there were multiple teams ready to take him at the top of 3rd makes me think they all got into a bidding war and were trying to jump each other with the 49ers winning it by trading in front of someone who was about to take him in the middle of the second.

That doesn't track for me. That was always his projection with regards to draft positioning among a lot of the mocks, and it definitely doesn't correlate to everyone started into a bidding war trying to jump each other specifically for him. The simplest solution is often the right one - we knew where his "range" was, or at least anticipated what we thought his range was, didn't want to lose him, so made the trade up to draft him. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

I don't know if Pettis would have been available at #74, but I do think he would have been there at #59. I really like Pettis and think he has some Doug Baldwin in him, but the reason I don't LOVE the pick is because of the unnecessary trade up. Shanahan flat out doesn't want to ever take any risk of losing "his guy" on the offensive end and it results in suspect trade ups. The proof is in the pudding. 

[Chrissooner49er]

Of course, the operative word is "think"! We obviously cannot "know". They felt he was worth the trade up, so, they did it. I am just glad he is a 9er...wait, has he signed yet? I guess not since we have not heard anything.

[NinerNation21]

44 minutes ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

I don't know if Pettis would have been available at #74, but I do think he would have been there at #59. I really like Pettis and think he has some Doug Baldwin in him, but the reason I don't LOVE the pick is because of the unnecessary trade up. Shanahan flat out doesn't want to ever take any risk of losing "his guy" on the offensive end and it results in suspect trade ups. The proof is in the pudding. 

I was thinking the same the same thing when I heard that. If we're asking if he would be there at 74 and the agent said yes, why not stand pat at 59? I still think there were rumors of someone ahead of us taking him and they panicked and traded up. This will all be a moot point to me if he's a successful WR and PR. If he ends up being a consistent contributor and playmaker for us, I won't really care much about the trade.