SANTA CLARA - 49ers wide receiver Dante Pettis is excited to be back on the field after missing games for the first time in his football career.
Getting prepared for the combine and rookie mini camp was not as difficult for Pettis as it was sitting out for the past three weeks. On a scale of one-to-10, the rookie says his excitement level is definitely at a 10.
“It’s been pretty rough,” Pettis said. “I’ve never missed a game my whole life so having to sit out now was very bad. I guess that it’s good that I kind of learned what it’s like, but it’s definitely something that I don’t want to get used to.”
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Pettis was cleared to return to practice last week in a walk-thru to face the Rams. Unfortunately, when he tested his knee, he didn’t feel he was quite ready and ended up sitting out for the third week in a row.
This week Pettis started running 80 yards at a time and didn’t feel any pulling or straining. That was a relief to the wide receiver who initially thought the injury was much worse than it ended up being.
“I thought it was very bad,” Pettis said. “I couldn’t move my leg at first. I didn’t know what happened, but I actually couldn’t move my leg. I was like, ‘this does not feel good.’ I was hoping for the best but I didn’t really know.”
Pettis has been focusing on getting healthy with the help of the strength and conditioning staff as well as preparing with the playbook and this week's game plan. While he says it helps, there is nothing like hearing the play live in the huddle from quarterback C.J. Beathard.
San Francisco 49ers
“It’s different when you’re reading it by yourself,” Pettis said, “than when you’re live in the huddle and you hear C.J. calling it. It’s like a different way of experiencing it. Nothing is like actually hearing it live.”
Pettis said he is not sure what the plan is for him heading into the game with the Cardinals but he will be prepared for whatever coach Kyle Shanahan decides.
Shanahan, who is looking to get some consistency with the wide receiver group, may be equally as excited as Pettis.
“He’s going to practice today,” Shanahan said. “So, it excites us. He tried to go last week at this time, but it was just a walk through. You could tell through walk through, just watching him and talking to him that it was too soon. We gave him a whole another week. He feels good, he’s excited to go today. We just had a little walk through where there was no problem. I know he’s excited and I’m excited to get him back out there.”