NFC West Notes: 49ers, Cardinals, Seahawks

49ers

49ers HC Kyle Shanahan explained that his recent comment about second-year WR Dante Pettis still trying to “earn a role” isn’t about his job security and more about finding better ways to utilize him.  

“I know a lot has been said about the quote that I had on him,” Shanahan said, via Eric Branch of the SF Chronicle. “Dante’s not in jeopardy of not making our team or anything. We’re still trying to find out a role for him. And when you have a guy like Dante it can be a compliment to him, too. He’s a guy that’s capable of having any role on this team.”

Shanahan added that Pettis can either be their “No. 1 receiver” or just be a roleplayer, but must show consistency going forward. 

“He can be our best player on this team. He can be our best punt returner. He can be our No. 1 receiver, our No. 2 receiver, our slot receiver, or just a role receiver. He has the ability to do all of that. And he’s shown that he can do all of that, but he hasn’t shown it consistently enough so that we know exactly where to put him. So that’s really what I was trying to (say) there.”

• According to the Athletic’s Matt Barrows, Shanahan says DE Dee Ford has recovered from knee soreness that sidelined him earlier in camp: “He looked great today. Very fresh legs, so we were messing with him over that. He looked very good.”
• Ford said he’s played through knee tendinitis for years, but the platelet-rich plasma treatment he had a few weeks ago finally seems to have helped: “This past time it got to a point where I was dysfunctional. And that’s a bad sign. So we really had to nip that in the bud. But it feels good now.”
• Shanahan said the team would have more clarity on first-round DE Nick Bosa‘s availability for Week 1 at the end of this week. 
• Barrows says the trio of LBs Elijah Lee, Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair made the 49ers comfortable releasing Malcolm Smith.
• 49ers DL Kentavius Street will likely end up on injured reserve after his knee flared up: “It’s a good thing for my career overall, because I’ve been battling with tendinitis and not putting my best foot forward. Of course it stinks to miss games and be away from football again. I just want to have everything fixed.” (Cam Inman)
• Shanahan said 49ers WR Trent Taylor (foot) is “highly unlikely” to be ready for Week 1. (Eric Branch)
• Shanahan added that he is unsure if 49ers WR Jalen Hurd (back) will be ready for Week 1. (Eric Branch)

Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals suspended executive vice president Ron Minegar for six weeks without pay following his arrest and DUI charge. 

“Minegar, who has been away from the team since the August 10th incident, will not be able to return until he has completed several additional steps,” said the Cardinals in a statement, via Katherine Fitzgerald of the Arizona Republic. “These include but are not limited to an alcohol assessment, counseling and mandatory DUI education as well as community service.”

• Ian Rapoport also reports that Minegar received a $200,000 fine from the Cardinals. 

Seahawks

Seahawks HC Pete Carroll said second-round WR D.K. Metcalf (knee) is “moving around” and is “very optimistic” that he will return soon. 

“DK is moving around this week,” Carroll said, via Curtis Crabtree of 950AM KJR. “We’ll see where he is. We have really high hopes he’s going to make a really fast return. We just need to see how it goes one day at a time. He did some more stuff today. All through this week he’ll be working to get him ready for next week to see how far he can take it. We don’t know at this time but very optimistic about it (being) a really quick return.”

Regarding Seahawks’ veteran DE Ezekiel Ansah (shoulder/groin), Carroll said the defensive end “moved around fine” during individual drills on Tuesday and will do more workouts in Wednesday’s practice.  

“He moved around fine. He was going through the individuals drills. He’ll do more tomorrow. He’s on his way back,” Carroll said.

Carroll added that Ansah’s shoulder and groin injuries are completely healed. 

“His shoulder is healed, his groin is healed and he’s ready to battle. … Really happy to get him out finally. It’s been a long, rigorous return. He’s busted his tail and he’s made it and we were hoping he would make it before the final week, which he did, and we’ll take it and see how far we can go.“