49ers: 3 players who have overstayed their welcome in San Francisco

No. 2: 49ers Wide Receiver Dante Pettis

Getting out of Kyle Shanahan’s doghouse isn’t easy. Just ask Matt Breida or former Niners offensive guard Joshua Garnett, who suffered a similar fate between 2017 and in 2018.

Now, wide receiver Dante Pettis finds himself in the same predicament.

Pettis’ rookie season, particularly those final five games, were more than noteworthy — an effort which suggested he could easily reach 1,000 yards receiving and possibly double-digit touchdowns when extrapolated over a full 16-game season. But his dramatic fall from grace, predicated from a troublesome training camp in 2019, ultimately led to him being scantly used by Shanahan over the course of the regular season.

Pettis, the team’s Round 2 selection from the 2018 NFL Draft, wasn’t even active for Super Bowl LIV. The situation is nowhere near as extreme as the one that befell A.J. Jenkins.

But it’s not far off, putting Pettis squarely on the roster bubble entering 2020.

Pettis is signed through 2021, yet he’ll have a tough time trying to save his career in San Francisco over other wide receivers, namely Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk, whose own stock values far exceed that of the former.

Anything but a breakout season from Pettis likely constitutes many a fan being relieved the team would finally move on.