Dante Pettis will not play a second Bears campaign. The team announced on Friday that the receiver and returner has been placed on IR. 
As a result of that move, Pettis will not be eligible to play in 2023. He signed with Chicago last offseason and contributed both on offense and special teams. He registered 19 catches for 245 yards and three touchdowns, while serving as the Bears’ punt returner. He ran back 18 punts on an average of 9.1 per return.
The former second-rounder opened training camp on the non-football injury list, and he was only activated earlier this month. That gave him limited opportunies to earn a place in Chicago’s new-look receiver room or the primary punt return gig. Both a depth role on offense and a more prominent one on special teams was something Pettis was in competition for with 2022 third-rounder Velus Jones. After finding himself on the roster bubble, the latter is now in better position to secure a spot during next week’s cutdowns.
Pettis re-signed for the veteran minimum in April after his debut Bears season. Today’s news will keep him sidelined for the campaign and hurt his value on the open market next offseason. After flashing potential as a rookie with 467 yards and five touchdowns, the Washington alum has failed to replicate that success during his subsequent campaigns, which were also spent with the 49ers and Giants. Another low-cost deal no doubt awaits him upon his return to full health.
In addition to moving on from Pettis, the Bears waived fellow wideout and returner Joe Reed with an injury designation. The latter, a 2020 Chargers fifth-round pick, made 11 appearances as a rookie but has yet to see any regular season action since then. He will revert to IR if he goes unclaimed.
So they lose the only guy who could reliably field a punt. Jones ain’t the answer.
But how often will you be forcing punts with a defense ranked 29th?
Defense is on the come up. Last year was terrible because they deliberately gutted it
It’s pretty hard to go anywhere but up from 29th. Time will tell.
They ranked 29th last year have you never watched football? They have probably six new starters on that side of the ball and two of their main starters will be going from rookies the second year guys get out of here with this 29th stuff
“Another low-cost deal no doubt awaits him upon his return to full health”.
Dante Pettis: “That’s so unfair because I have a career passer rating 39 points better than Justin Fields”.
This dude has been riding a fast 40 time to a career of free money for YEARS. Bust, bum, loser
Says the guy sitting on his couch covered in Cheetos.
I’ve tried the Cheetos but they didn’t provide me with a fast 40 time to the beer fridge so I had to give them up.
You say that, but it’s somewhat true. His speed was one part of why he was drafted, but he was well regarded in college by some analysts. Pettis was a terribly ineffective use of a second round pick. He couldn’t hold on to passes, especially through contact. That likely was because of his size. Pettis isn’t a big guy, of course, and has already had a list of injuries in his relatively short career. Even when on the field, his vaunted route running abilities at Washington did not translate to success at the professional level. Fielding punts was his last modicum of relative value, but he was drafted to be an inside receiver, but a return specialist. Pettis was certainly a bad pic, Cheetos or not.
What did he injure?