Can ex-bust be a Band-Aid? 49ers welcome back Dante Pettis with spot on practice squad

Niners wide receiver Dante Pettis celebrates after a 24-20 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Levi's Stadium on Sept. 22, 2019. (Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle) This says a lot about the state of the San Francisco 49ers' battered wide receiver corps: They welcomed back Dante Pettis on Tuesday.

>Eight years after drafting Pettis in the second round - and six years after admitting their error by waiving him - the 49ers signed the onetime No. 44 pick who routinely frustrated head coach Kyle Shanahan to their practice squad.

>Shanahan coveted Pettis before the 2018 draft and the 49ers traded up 15 spots to select him. In November 2020, however, they waived Pettis after he had two catches for 26 yards on 10 targets and a touchdown while playing 207 snaps in his final 11 regular-season games with the team.

>"I think Dante and us agreed that a fresh start is warranted," general manager John Lynch said after parting with Pettis.

>Pettis 2.0 is happening because the 49ers have four healthy wide receivers on their 53-man roster with De'Zhaun Stribling and Demarcus Robinson on injured reserve and Mike Evans dealing with a rib injury that makes his status unclear for Sunday's game against the Broncos. Among the four non-injured wideouts, only Deebo Samuel has had more than 14 catches in a season.

>Last week, the 49ers signed wide receiver Brandin Cooks, 33, to the practice squad. Cooks is one of two players in NFL history with 1,000-yard receiving seasons with four teams. Meanwhile, Pettis has 1,231 yards on 92 catches and 13 touchdowns in his four-team, 66-game career. Last year, Pettis had nine catches for 127 yards in eight games with the Saints.

>Shanahan has always been particularly demanding when it comes to young wide receivers. Just ask Pettis, who often inspired public critiques after failing to build on a 27-catch, 467-yard rookie season that had signs of promise.

>In 2019, Shanahan was asked why Pettis was playing with the soon-to-be-unemployed in the final minutes of a preseason game against the Chiefs.

>"Just because I believed he needed to be," Shanahan said. "He's still trying to earn a role on this team. And he's still trying to show us what he's capable of doing consistently."

SubscribeThere’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Can ex-bust be a Band-Aid? 49ers welcome back Dante Pettis with spot on practice squad.