The San Francisco 49ers rookies took part in rookie minicamp and Dante Pettis among others got his first taste of a pro-style offense. NFL.com has been putting together an excellent series called Path to the Draft focusing on several players and they just concluded Dante Pettis’ series with his thoughts on the first few days of minicamp.
The most notable quote is how he is embracing Kyle Shanahan’s playbook and picking it the logic behind it quickly.
“For the most part, a receiver’s routes, you’re going to pretty much run the same routes. But it’s how they’re paired together [in Shanahan’s playbook]. Maybe the splits are different. Definitely the play calls are different,” Pettis explained. “A lot of times when there’s a lot going on [in a playbook], you’re like, ‘Is this necessary?’ But with [coach Shanahan], you can tell all this stuff makes sense. It makes sense why this is like this, why that is like that. It’s cool to see it all come together.”
This reminds me a lot of when Greg Roman helmed the 49ers offense under Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh/Roman’s offense had a knack for being overly complicated for what seemed like complicated’s sake. They eventually had to clean it up because of the delays it was causing in getting to the line of scrimmage.
Dante Pettis has been considered an all pro off the field, and if he can grasp the nuances of the pro game, he may become a force on the field. In any case, give the series a read if you haven’t been tracking yet. Pettis’ journey is definitely one to root for.