Hayne was not available to speak to reporters but team-mate and rival for Hayne’s running back and punt return positions, Reggie Bush, said he was ready to play the Vikings despite a shaky pre-season. He may not be polished as a running back, but he does more on special teams than just return the ball, as he can also cover kicks, all of which may get him ontoMonday’s active list while fellow rookie running back Mike Davis gets inactivated.
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CB Keith Reaser and CB Kenneth Acker will both see playing time at cornerback in Monday’s regular-season opener against the Minnesota Vikings, but coach Jim Tomsula has not announced who will start. His four returns of 20-plus yards were also second-best amongst punt returners with more than five attempts this preseason.
“I don’t want to take anything away from what the man has achieved, but all he has achieved is an opportunity to be in the locker room”, Tomsula said. “He is the kind of guy … who will continue to ascend (because of) the way he does things”. This is real bullets flying.
“Very confident”, Tomsula responded when asked about Hayne’s ability to catch punts, “But there again (we) are talking about the 46 (players suiting up for a game)”.
“Everybody’s flying the “Hayne Plane” right now”, McGaughey said. He’s new. He’s a rookie.
Working in Hayne’s favour is the fact that he has been placed on three different positions on the 49ers depth chart – as a punt returner, kick-off returner and running back.
“You’re in game preparation now, so you’ve got that aspect of it”, he said. So we’ve got to kind of keep everything in perspective and understand the preseason is the preseason and right now is right now. Per SB Nation, now that he made the roster, he will make a $435,000 rookie salary. But if you look at who led our team in punt returns in the preseason, it wasn’t Jarryd Hayne.
Then there’s rookie DeAndrew White.
Whether Hayne is on the 46-man squad for the Vikings will likely only be known 90 minutes before Monday’s game.
The Seven Network recently struck a deal with the National Football League to televise all but a few of the 49ers matches this year in the hopes that Australians will be able to watch Hayne from home.
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“Theguys up front and the vice outside, they ve done a great job of blocking and understanding the concepts of what we re trying to do executing the fundamentals of the techniques of the scheme”, McGaughey added. But now it’s how to use them.
