49ers film room: Breaking down WR Dante Pettis’ offensive fit
By Chris Wilson
Winning Deep
Shanahan’s offensive system is based on creating mismatches and stretching defenses both horizontally and vertically.
Unfortunately, after wide receiver Pierre Garçon was lost to injury last season — forcing fellow receiver Marquise Goodwin into more of a possession role — the 49ers lacked a true deep threat at the wide receiver position.
In Shanahan’s historic 2016 Atlanta Falcons offense, quarterback
had a
on passes that traveled over 15 yards in the air. In 2017, 49ers quarterback
was one of the best in the league in the short-passing game, but posted subpar numbers on deep passes, partially due to a lack of deep pass attempts:
The fear for Garoppolo is if defenses aren’t tested vertically, they will condense the short area of the field, which will limit the quarterback’s efficiency that helped Garoppolo lead the NFL in yards-per-drive, points-per-drive, and scoring percentage in 2017.
With the addition of Pettis — and the return of Garçon — Shanahan will look to keep defenses honest by stretching the field vertically with his wide receivers this season.
While Pettis isn’t the fastest receiver — he reportedly ran a 4.48 40-yard dash at his pro day — he consistently won deep thanks to his route-running ability. In this film clip, Pettis runs a textbook dino stem in a “Mills concept” play against Arizona State, and an equally impressive route against Oregon: