Fantasy Football: Wish List No. 2, Dante Pettis
By Kevin Scott
After-the-catch ability
The reason no safety wants to take on Pettis one-on-one is because he has ridiculous open-field ability. That is evidenced by his NCAA-record nine punt return touchdowns. Here is one of those punt returns.
His vision to see would-be tacklers and his quickness to navigate through traffic on this return will serve him well after the catch in the NFL. He is also excellent at changing direction without losing speed, another quality evident in that return. Once he gets the ball in his hands, he is a threat to take any catch the distance due to those skills.
These skills translate to his NFL game. In this catch against the Seahawks, Pettis quickly sees the safety (No. 33) approaching up from his left and cuts right, toward the sideline. He is working in a very confined space but gets some space by using a stiff-arm against the first defender. Then he picks up a block from Kyle Jusczyk and scoots around the edge and down the sideline.
This play by Pettis shows he has transferred those punt-return skills from college to the NFL, and has the skills to turn any catch into a huge gain. He starts at the top of the screen and takes a simple catch to the house when he has no business doing so. pic.twitter.com/ycjHh8qEgp
— Kevin Scott (@KevinScottFF) June 24, 2019
Here you can see his skill to change directions without losing speed, as well as his great vision and quick decision-making in confined spaces. Those are the skills that make a player dangerous in the open field, and excellent after the catch.