Dante Pettis’ up and down — but mostly down — tenure with the 49ers is over.

After failing to move the receiver before Tuesday’s 1 p.m. PT trade deadline, the team waived him instead. Pettis’ most prominent play of the season occurred Sunday when he fumbled away a kickoff after a hard tackle in the third quarter. The Seahawks converted the turnover into a touchdown, which put them up 27-7 in their eventual 37-27 victory.

Per The Athletic’s David Lombardi, releasing Pettis saves the 49ers roughly $500,000 against the salary cap this season, and they’re now off the hook for $1.36 million next year.

If Deebo Samuel (hamstring) can't play against the Seahawks, Kendrick Bourne likely would start opposite Brandon Aiyuk, and Dante Pettis likely would be in uniform for the first time in three weeks. The 49ers also have the option of elevating Kevin White or River Cracraft from the practice squad.

The injury happened on a run play. Samuel was second among WRs in snaps behind Aiyuk and from what the article said, Bourne would step into Samuel's role if the injury keeps him out in Week 8.

Remember, George Kittle set the single-season record for receiving yards by a tight end in a season in which Nick Mullens started the last eight games. Those were mostly run-after-catch yards.

Obviously, Kittle (knee) is iffy for Sunday’s game on MetLife Stadium’s bouncy-house field. If he’s not there, I’d imagine Jordan Reed is a frequent target.

Kendrick Bourne and Dante Pettis also had good production when Mullens was under center in 2018. Mullens also threw to Matt Breida out of the backfield quite a bit, which makes Mullens a potentially good pairing with Jerick McKinnon.

Of Bourne’s 487 receiving yards, 296 came when Mullens was the quarterback. Pettis had his best NFL stretch with Mullens throwing to him — 371 of his 467 receiving yards came in the last eight games of 2018, the story said. With RBs Raheem Mostert and Tevin Coleman likely missing Week 3, McKinnon is potentially a nice play this week at RB.

Wide receiver Dante Pettis did not meet the expectations of the coaching staff when he reported to training camp last summer. Pettis never recovered, and took a major step back from the promising conclusion of his rookie season.

This summer, Pettis is competing for his spot on the 49ers – and the NFL, for that matter. For the first time in a long time, Pettis on Tuesday showed why the 49ers thought enough of him to select him in the second round of the 2018 draft, trading up to select him at No. 44 overall.

One day after the 49ers learned wide receiver Jalen Hurd would be out for the season with a torn ACL, Pettis showed up with his most active practice in a long, long time. Pettis caught a team-best five receptions in the 49ers’ fourth practice of the summer. He had two catches apiece from Jimmy Garoppolo and Nick Mullens. As the story said, he's working to stay in the NFL at this point.