Coach Freddie Kitchens plans to stick with him Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks.
“I definitely will,” he said Tuesday on a conference call.
Callaway, a fourth-round pick in 2018, was suspended for the first four games for violating the league’s drug policy and returned to practice Thursday. He had also missed the final three weeks of the preseason with a high ankle sprain.
Yet Kitchens rushed him back as the No. 3 receiver against the 49ers, playing him 21 snaps in the first half. Callaway was penalized for a false start and had zero catches in three targets, with two turning into Baker Mayfield interceptions. The critical one came on the goal line when Callaway turned a touchdown into a turnover by bobbling the pass into the air, where 49ers nickelback K’Waun Williams grabbed it.
...Callaway, who was benched for the second half and replaced by Damion Ratley, had trouble lining up correctly and blamed it on switching from his normal X spot to the Z last week during practice.
“I had to learn a whole new position,” he said. “It was a little tough. I’m still a professional, so I’ve got to know.”
Kitchens downplayed the change.
“We move our receivers around a good bit,” he said. “I would say the same thing I said last night, I felt like Antonio was ready to play so we played him. He is one of our better players so when our players are healthy and they are eligible to play, they are going to play.
“In doing that, we move our receivers around. We have always moved our receivers around. Antonio will be better moving forward.”
Kitchens blamed himself for not putting Callaway in the best spot to succeed.
“I probably put him in a bad situation,” he said after the game. “I thought he was ready to go, but I put him in a bad situation.”