Green Bay Packers: Keep Your Eyes on Recently Released Dante Pettis

The Green Bay Packers didn’t trade for a receiver, but a name to keep your eyes on is the recently released Dante Pettis.

To the chagrin of many Green Bay Packers’ fans, despite the reports and rumors surrounding them and Houston Texans’ wide receiver Will Fuller, the two teams could not come to an agreement. However, while this receiver is no Will Fuller, fans should keep their eyes on the recently released Dante Pettis.

Pettis is a former 2018 second-round draft pick out of Washington by the San Francisco 49ers, and even at that time, he was on Green Bay’s radar as they hosted him for an official pre-draft visit. Most recently, when the Niners made it known that Pettis was on the trade block, Tom Silverstein of Packers News reported that Green Bay was one of the teams that called on the receiver. But as we all know, nothing came to fruition, and Pettis now finds himself on the waiver wire.

Coming out of Washington, Pettis had totaled 163 receptions for 2,256 yards at nearly 14 yards per catch with 24 touchdowns. Although a bit undersized, he had good straight-line speed, good explosiveness, and was touted for his route running ability. Not to mention that he could double as a return man as well.

Unfortunately, in Pettis’ short NFL career, he has not lived up to his draft selection. During his first two seasons, Pettis would appear in 23 games, including 11 starts, with 38 receptions for 576 yards with a catch rate of 55 percent and seven touchdowns. Although a majority of that production came during his rookie season in 2018 and there was a steep drop off in production in 2019.

And from there, the 2020 season for Pettis has been even worse. He’s been inactive for three games, he has no receptions, and in his first bit of action in a few weeks this past Sunday, he had a crucial fumble against Seattle.

With Pettis’ release, he now enters the waiver wire, meaning any team who wants him has to put in a claim, and the team with the worst record will be the one that gets him. So with the Green Bay Packers sitting at 5-2, if they are interested, there are quite a few teams ahead of them that could also be vying for Pettis’ services.

If, and it’s a big if, the Packers do land Pettis, should the expectation be that he is going to come in and be a game-changer? Absolutely not. He’s a bit of a reclamation project at this point, but GM Brian Gutekunst was interested in him both in the past and recently, and 49ers’ Head Coach Kyle Shanahan – who runs a similar offense to Matt LaFleur – did spend a second-round pick on him because he thought he’d be a good fit for his offense.

With all of that said, I’m not here advocating that the Packers put in a claim on Pettis, and as I just mentioned, I certainly am not expecting him to step on the field and make a huge impact. However, this is worth monitoring because he checks all the boxes. Gutey has shown an interest in him since the 2018 draft, he’s inexpensive with a remaining camp hit of only $264,000, he’s already under contract for 2021, and he’s a schematic fit for the LaFleur offense. So as Wednesday rolls on, keep your eyes on Dante Pettis, Packer fans.

UPDATE: Dante Pettis was claimed off waivers on Wednesday by the New York Giants.