49ers News: Dante Pettis Praised by Kyle Shanahan amid Injury Woes at WR

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is feeling optimistic about wide receiver Dante Pettis after the 2018 second-round pick struggled to carve out a role for himself through his first two years.

Shanahan praised Pettis for his work in the offseason, per David Bonilla of 49ers Webzone:

"What I can say is that Dante is so much more prepared right now for the season than he was last year at this time. Just the work that he put in while he was away, the stuff I said earlier in the year, but it definitely hasn't changed.

"Everyone battled through camp, and had some good days, some bad days. But Dante was so prepared for camp, fought through camp, the tough days, and I think took a number of steps forward as a receiver. And whether he gets his opportunity this week or some other time throughout the year, he's put himself in a position to have a chance to be successful."

General manager John Lynch had a similar assessment.

"A week into camp, the consistency just clicked and we could see from day one his mentality was different," Lynch said, per NBC Sports Bay Area's Jennifer Lee Chan. "He was doing the things that were asked of him. The guy that we were so excited to draft and add to our team started to show up on that field."

San Francisco seemed to reach a bit when it selected Pettis with the No. 44 pick in 2018. Bleacher Report's Matt Miller omitted the Washington star from his top 50 overall players and ranked him as the eighth-best wideout. Miller projected Pettis as a Round 3 talent.

The 6'1", 195-pound pass-catcher has done little to prove that outlook to be wide of the mark. He has 38 receptions for 576 yards and seven touchdowns through 23 games.

The 49ers have selected four wide receivers (Deebo Samuel, Jalen Hurd, Brandon Aiyuk and Jauan Jennings) since the 2018 draft, which one could read as an indictment of Pettis to some extent.

Looking ahead to his team's opener Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, Pettis should have an opportunity to silence his skeptics.

San Francisco released its first official status report Wednesday, confirming neither Samuel (foot) nor Aiyuk (hamstring) practiced. Pettis might be in line to start alongside Kendrick Bourne.

Especially if those injuries prove to be persistent issues for Samuel and Aiyuk, the Niners will need Pettis to step up in a big way.

Based on what Shanahan and Lynch have said, he might do just that.