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After playing wide receiver Dante Pettis into the fourth quarter of the team’s third preseason game, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said the 2018 second-round pick needed to “earn a role” on the team.

If that comment gave rise to any thoughts that Pettis would be losing his job this week, they can be cast aside. Shanahan followed up to say Pettis is “not in jeopardy of not making our team or anything” while adding that the team is still figuring out just how he fits into their plans.

Shanahan said Pettis can be “our No. 1 receiver, our No. 2 receiver, our slot receiver, or just a role receiver” and that he could even be the best player on the team, but he hasn’t been consistent enough to let coaches know where he belongs.

“I have been hard on Dante,” Shanahan said, via the San Francisco Chronicle. “But if anyone knows me, I am the hardest on people that I believe in. And I do believe in him a lot. And I’m always going to be probably a little disappointed because I think he can be very good. And it’s important to our team that he is.”

Pettis has been dealing with a groin injury this week, but the feeling is he’ll be ready to go for Week One and the chance to show how Shanahan’s approach to pushing the wideout works out.