49ers sign rugby star Jarryd Hayne

shouldakepowens · Post #21 » by **shouldakepowens** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 4:54 am

Ventrone is going into coaching already? Kind of surprised he didn't try free agency first.

Post #22 » by **Ray_Dogg** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 5:09 am

It will be interesting to see how he runs with pads on. He looks pretty stiff above the waist at times. Gonna be tough for him at RB. Hopefully he can be a decent returner.

Hangman_52 · Post #23 » by **Hangman_52** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 5:28 am

Not only could he be a good running back for the future behind Hyde, but he could be a good ILBer too. He was good at tackling and wrapping up.

CrimsonCrew · Post #24 » by **CrimsonCrew** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 4:59 pm

Hangman_52 wrote:Not only could he be a good running back for the future behind Hyde, but he could be a good ILBer too. He was good at tackling and wrapping up.

He's only 226. And I wouldn't want to trust him to stack and shed an OG any time soon. Rugby league is a more wide open game where he was making plays "in the open field." On the defensive side of the ball, more likely he'd be a better fit as a big SS in some packages.

I see him contributing more as a potential KR man, KR coverage guy, possibly the personal protector on punts, and competing initially at RB for the occasional trick play or possibly a role on third down (though he'll have to figure out blocking). Trying to get him to learn both sides of the ball - even though he already has a lot of the skills, would probably backfire.

CrimsonCrew · Post #25 » by **CrimsonCrew** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 5:38 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4aoOAJ4lp8

Watching that, I'm not sure he's got the foot quickness and change-of-direction skills to make it as a RB. We'll see. Maybe it's just something he's got to familiarize himself with, but he doesn't look terribly smooth or quick making cuts. Reinforces for me that third down - he looked pretty good catching the ball, has some size and physicality for the open field - seems like his best shot of getting in on offense initially.

Dodub · Post #26 » by **Dodub** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 8:59 pm

CrimsonCrew wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4aoOAJ4lp8

Watching that, I'm not sure he's got the foot quickness and change-of-direction skills to make it as a RB. We'll see. Maybe it's just something he's got to familiarize himself with, but he doesn't look terribly smooth or quick making cuts. Reinforces for me that third down - he looked pretty good catching the ball, has some size and physicality for the open field - seems like his best shot of getting in on offense initially.

His feet are terrible, that is the first thing I noticed about him. I'm really not expecting much but it will be interesting to see what they can do with him. I'm more interested in seeing what he could do on special teams to be honest

Ease_Ur_Storm · Post #27 » by **Ease_Ur_Storm** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 9:41 pm

If he becomes a special teams ace that would be awesome. Anything else is gravy. Asking any athlete from another sport to transition to a skill position is a huge stretch. If he could play at a high level both ways on ST's that would be a great pickup as it could potentially free up a roster spot, and could also get real creative on various trick returns. I'd rather have Hunter in there on 3rd downs, but you never know - agree we can throw him in on an occasional trick play and confuse the defense with him in as a decoy if he's actually producing in the return game. This is a fun pickup and his transition to ST's should be pretty seamless.

ChrisPozz · Post #28 » by **ChrisPozz** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 10:27 pm

Ease_Ur_Storm wrote:If he becomes a special teams ace that would be awesome. Anything else is gravy. Asking any athlete from another sport to transition to a skill position is a huge stretch. If he could play at a high level both ways on ST's that would be a great pickup as it could potentially free up a roster spot, and could also get real creative on various trick returns. I'd rather have Hunter in there on 3rd downs, but you never know - agree we can throw him in on an occasional trick play and confuse the defense with him in as a decoy if he's actually producing in the return game. This is a fun pickup and his transition to ST's should be pretty seamless.

I don't necessarily agree with the last part in bold. There's a lot more organized chaos in special teams that needs to be understood before one can play a role well. Can he get that side down? I have no idea. I watch rugby maybe a half dozen times a year and have tried to understand the sport a little bit in the past but I don't think I could accurately project what sorts of parts of his past could help him or hurt him in his transition.

I can try to watch video of a rugby player and try to project how I feel his make up and physical attributes could translate but so much of it will come down to how he'll handle the mental side of things and if he can get that down to the point where it's just letting his body do what it does naturally.

As an athlete, I'm probably more impressed with his toughness and straight ahead style and power than his fluidity or ability to make guys miss. There's some stiffness there on his rugby highlights that I don't like out of a potential returner. And I'm not sure if his football vision and his ability to tie his eyes to his feet will be enough to make up for that stiffness, assuming he doesn't develop some wiggle to compensate.

As I've said, I think there is some toughness and a straight ahead style there that I like out of my runners/returners and that's not something this team has for their returners unless you want to put Hyde back there again. I have zero interest in using Hyde there again as I feel like he has the ability to be a future star of the whole offense.

I've been screaming for a Trindon Holliday signing for a while as a return specialist and he'd be my favorite to land in that spot right away. And assuming Hunter comes back remotely healthy and they want him back, I definitely want to see him have a role on offense that would cut into typical 3rd down back work.

I have considerable less of an interest in a 3rd-down, big back, short-yardage specialist because of Hyde now. Hyde solves that problem almost exclusively for me so I pretty much have no interest in devoting a chunk to that type of specialized back.

A spot I'd have an interest in him competing for, but one that he may not be able to for at least a while because of the mental aspect, is as a developmental Swiss army knife, move, space type receiver. Asante Cleveland is the other developmental player I want to see in this role. Two completely different physical make-ups there but I want move pieces in this offense and I always liked Cleveland as a movable piece. My wish for his ceiling would be in that type of role where he can use his power, assuming it does project, in space. Obviously a lot mentally goes into playing that type of role so it could be a huge stretch to think that he could nail that down anytime soon.

In the end, I'd say it's more likely than not that he projects to a practice squad player this year at best as he tries to nail down the position mental aspects and learning to tie everything else together so he can be functional.

tallglassowater · Post #29 » by **tallglassowater** » Tue Mar 3, 2015 10:31 pm

Runningback is a lot more than just getting the ball and dodging dudes. This is going to be a really tough transition. Footwork, reading a defense, reading blocks, hips, pass blocking etc... these are things that will take time to learn. Guys that have played their entire lives have a hard time with this. There is no guarantee he is gonna be good at special teams either. Very different games.

ChrisPozz · Post #30 » by **ChrisPozz** » Wed Mar 4, 2015 2:19 am

http://www.sacbee.com/sports/nfl/san-fr ... 61761.html

At his press conference, he said the 49ers offered him a $100,000 bonus, which is about $78,000 here. San Francisco was the only team to offer him a guarantee. He also has a deal with Telstra, an Australian media and telecommunications company that has the rights to a documentary being filmed about his run at the NFL.

Still, those who know him say Hayne is not motivated by money and that he typically tries to keep his profile as minimal as possible.

Post #31 » by **TNBT** » Wed Mar 4, 2015 5:38 am

I get what you're saying in regards to his footwork. That was something I first noticed in that video as well. What gives me hope is that his footwork as far as changing direction and evading people in rugby league was so much better than that video. I'm thinking that it may possibly be due, at least in part, to a level of nervousness, trying to remember everything he's been told and to do everything perfectly. I think when he actually gets out there in game situations, whether it's at RB or on ST, his natural instincts that he's picked up from playing rugby league his entire life will kick in and he should look a lot more smooth and natural out there.

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Dodub · Post #32 » by **Dodub** » Wed Mar 4, 2015 2:09 pm

TNBT wrote:I get what you're saying in regards to his footwork. That was something I first noticed in that video as well. What gives me hope is that his footwork as far as changing direction and evading people in rugby league was so much better than that video. I'm thinking that it may possibly be due, at least in part, to a level of nervousness, trying to remember everything he's been told and to do everything perfectly. I think when he actually gets out there in game situations, whether it's at RB or on ST, his natural instincts that he's picked up from playing rugby league his entire life will kick in and he should look a lot more smooth and natural out there.

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I wasn't very impressed with his feat on the highlights either. It's just a different type of skill that is required to be an efficient runner in football and he's also playing against a different breed of athlete.

Am I saying that he can't make it? No, he could be a situational guy and stud on ST but Anthony Dixon had better feet than him.

Ease_Ur_Storm · Post #33 » by **Ease_Ur_Storm** » Thu Mar 5, 2015 12:50 am

We'll see what he can do but it should be a much smoother transition compared to an Olympic disc thrower trying to convert to D-line. Not much downside. We were so weak at punt return last year that after Ellington went down that anything can help, and it's good to have someone ready on the PS. Does anyone else think he'll lose weight to gain quickness, or do you think he'd stay at 220 to be powerful.

CrimsonCrew · Post #34 » by **CrimsonCrew** » Thu Mar 5, 2015 4:20 am

Ease_Ur_Storm wrote:We'll see what he can do but it should be a much smoother transition compared to an Olympic disc thrower trying to convert to D-line. Not much downside. We were so weak at punt return last year that after Ellington went down that anything can help, and it's good to have someone ready on the PS. Does anyone else think he'll lose weight to gain quickness, or do you think he'd stay at 220 to be powerful.

Okoye was a pretty good rugby player himself before he gave it up to focus on discus.

tallglassowater · Post #35 » by **tallglassowater** » Thu Mar 5, 2015 9:13 pm

Put him in the wildcat and let him run the option.

Dodub · Post #36 » by **Dodub** » Fri Mar 6, 2015 5:24 am

tallglassowater wrote:Put him in the wildcat and let him run the option.

Dear lord no! He has neither the quickness nor the awareness to pull that off. It would be worse than Tebow.

I_am_1z · Post #37 » by **I_am_1z** » Fri Mar 6, 2015 1:05 pm

Anyone else think Rugby players actually have the advantage playing special teams in the NFL?

Dodub · Post #38 » by **Dodub** » Fri Mar 6, 2015 1:12 pm

I_am_1z wrote:Anyone else think Rugby players actually have the advantage playing special teams in the NFL?

I don't think rugby players have any kind of advantage in the NFL outside of their conditioning.

I_am_1z · Post #39 » by **I_am_1z** » Fri Mar 6, 2015 1:29 pm

Dodub wrote:
I_am_1z wrote:Anyone else think Rugby players actually have the advantage playing special teams in the NFL?

I don't think rugby players have any kind of advantage in the NFL outside of their conditioning.

Never played rugby, but from the looks of it it's like a bigger game of the kickoff special teams. Wasn't Okaye one of the better special teamers right out the gate?