Would You Make This Trade Before the Deadline, Bengals Fans?

Should the Bengals trade John Ross to the 49ers for Dante Pettis?

CINCINNATI — The Bengals are shopping wide receiver John Ross ahead of Tuesday's trade deadline. The 24-year-old speedster wants a fresh start after only appearing in three games this season. 

The former ninth overall pick only has two receptions for 17 yards this year. 

"It’s not a secret that i have requested a trade," he tweeted last week. "Trade me if this how y’all [the Bengals] feel. I’m healthy and eager to play. I know I can be productive. It’s hard to love something when you're not actually participating in it. Believe me, it's not football that I don’t like."

Ross would be a great fit in Kyle Shanahan's offensive system and the 49ers are certainly in the market for wide receiver help. 

San Francisco has a player that like Ross, has struggled to adjust to life in the NFL.

The 49ers selected wide receiver Dante Pettis in the second-round (44th overall) in the 2018 NFL Draft. He doesn't have a catch this season and has fallen out of their receiver rotation. 

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San Francisco has reportedly shopped Pettis in recent months. He has 38 career receptions for 576 yards and seven touchdowns. He posted most of those numbers in his rookie season. 

A Pettis-for-Ross swap has been talked about by fans and analysts in recent days. The former University of Washington teammates would love to start fresh elsewhere. 

The 49ers should trade Dante Pettis for John Ross.

— Grant Cohn (@grantcohn) October 20, 2020

Ross is in the final year of his rookie contract. Pettis has another year left on his rookie deal. That means the Bengals could keep the former second-rounder on the cheap in 2021. 

Pettis was a great punt returner in college, so there's a chance he could help out on special teams. Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and Auden Tate are the only three receivers on the Bengals' roster that are under contract for next season. They might as well add Pettis and see if he can jump start his NFL career. 

He had 163 receptions for 2,256 yards and 24 touchdowns in four seasons at Washington. Pettis returned nine punts for touchdowns in college, averaging 14.2 yards per return. He's only returned 11 punts total in the NFL. 

It's a low-risk, high reward type move for both organizations. For the 49ers, they would get a guy with a high ceiling that fits well in Shanahan's system. 

The Bengals would move off of Ross, but get a talented guy that hasn't gotten off to the start that he had hoped for. Both players could turn things around. 

Put the ball in his hands and big plays will happen 🙌@49ers WR Dante Pettis' BEST plays from his rookie season! pic.twitter.com/HZDy3YrKju

— NFL (@NFL) February 25, 2019

This deal would make sense for both teams. The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET.

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