Washington Football Team should claim recently released WR Dante Pettis

The Washington Football Team should pursue WR Dante Pettis.

The San Francisco 49ers made the decision to part ways with their former second-round pick Dante Pettis after the NFL trade deadline. Evidently, they couldn’t find a suitor for the third-year player, so now he will be available on the waiver wire.

As a rookie in 2018, Pettis played in 12 games for the 49ers. He racked up 27 catches, 465 yards, and found the end-zone five times. It looked like he was going to be a strong starter for the 49ers moving forward.

However, things changed in 2019. Pettis gradually lost playing time during the season to Deebo Samuel and eventually was rendered a healthy scratch by the team. Pettis’ performance was maligned by coach Kyle Shanahan and he was challenged to improve during the offseason to grab hold of a role in the receiving corps in 2020.

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That never materialized. Pettis played just 21 offensive snaps for the 49ers from Week 2 on and couldn’t earn opportunities to make plays despite the 49ers’ injury woes at receiver. The last-ditch effort by the team to give him a chance to produce was to make him a kick return. On his first return of the season against the Seahawks, he fumbled. Now, he’s gone.

Despite his struggles, Pettis is a player that the Washington Football Team should absolutely have an interest in. While he hasn’t played well in recent seasons, the 25-year-old still has plenty of upside and perhaps a change of scenery will spark him to perform as he did during his rookie season.

Besides, it’s not like Washington has a ton of talent at receiver. Terry McLaurin looks like a star, but their collection of receivers aside from him is unproven at best (though players like Antonio Gandy-Golden and Isaiah Wright have upside). Steven Sims may return soon, but Pettis (6-1) could still be added as a potential inside/outside threat and his ability as a route runner would pair well with McLaurin, another excellent route runner.

Giving Pettis a trial run for the rest of the season would be a good move. Washington can see if they can get the most out of him without risking anything, save for a little cap space, to do so. They’ll have to see if any team ahead of them on the waiver wire puts in a claim for him, but if nobody does, Washington should give him a shot. He could prove to be worth it and at the very least, he would add depth and upside at a position of need.

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We’ll soon see if Washington shows any interest in Pettis. They sit at No. 7 in the waiver order at the moment, which is the same as the current NFL Draft order.

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