How likely is that to happen?
On that whole topic, How would he have been assigned a number in the first place? Presumably everyone who is going to play in the pre-season matches gets a unique number?
If I understand correctly aren’t there bands of numbers for particular positions, so someone like Hayne who is being looked at for a few different positions, how do they decide which band to assign him a number from?
Almost nobody in the NFL is a designated return man. They all have secondary roles, usually wide receiver, running back, or defensive back, even if just for emergencies. Hayne is also a running back, so he is given a RB’s number, in his case 38. Special teams players (kickers, punters, returners) don’t have a designated “number band”. They get to choose from the leftovers.
They are using him mostly as a Kick returner, although he has seen action as a running back. Kick returners do not have their own band of numbers. If he is designated as a running back, his number can be anything from 20-49. The 38 that he is wearing will stick. Of course he has shown pre-season flashes at running back, but there is one part of the RB game that will be alien to him - blocking. If the QB gets blown up because he misses a few blocking assignments, his time in the backfield will be very short. This doesn’t mean that he will fail as a returner, it just means that the multi-million dollar contract may not be there for him. As a returner, he has a great ability to make the first man miss, but he does not have the pure speed to run for touchdowns. He can run for a high average return, but Devin Hester he isn’t.
Not as much game time this time, and a bit of a mixed bag it seems. Something I’m curious about though.
Late in the game, he was being used as a WR (I think*), running a route for a pass in any case. He stopped and turned ready to receive, but the coverage meant the QB couldn’t get the pass to him. After the play, the QB (a backup FYI, not Kaepernick) has a few words to Hayne. A commentator seemed to suggest that Hayne should have kept moving towards the sideline, and that it was a bit of a lack of instinctive footy knowledge in evidence.
I thought that the specifics of a passing play were very tightly controlled, with precise specific routes to be followed so the QB knows where to look. Is that not the case? If the WR gets to the end point of his initial route and finds himself under coverage, is the expectation that he uses his initiative to continue to move to try and shake the coverage? Or is he supposed to stop and turn ready to receive regardless?
Sadly, no. With 90+ people on the roster there are duplicate numbers issued pretty frequently. I think they try to duplicate on opposite sides of the ball, like a RB and LB sharing a number, but even that isn’t always possible.
Once the play starts, there are only three types of offensive players in terms of rules:
So he would be considered an eligible receiver, which is what most “skill position” guys are on most plays. (Running backs, fullbacks, wide receivers and tight ends.) Occasionally an offensive lineman will be an eligible receiver.
It is not, no. There are many things both the QB and the receiver need to read about the defense and adjust their route accordingly. One example is a hot read, where if the defense blitzes you have to break off your route immediately to give the QB someone to dump the ball off to.
There’s also finding the hole in the zone, or option routes where you have a choice of three different routes depending on how the defense lines up and then plays you. (Safety playing deep? Run a curl. DB pressing with no safety help? Run a go route. etc…)
And even when you are running a fixed, unchanging route and the defense plays you in a way favorable to that route, you will still make little adjustments to maximize your chances for a completion. Inside coverage? Fade outside. Stuff like that.
On most passing plays in the NFL, both the QB and the receiver are reading the defense and adjusting their pass/route accordingly. That’s why it’s so common to hear “QB and receiver weren’t on the same page” after an incompletion.
Yes, and yes. It depends on what the defense is doing.
There’s also the case where if the QB is scrambling to keep the play alive, generally speaking you should break off your route, turn around and come back to him, keeping roughly the same horizontal position on the field as him to give him someone to throw to. While also getting yourself open, of course.
Hayne is a pretty unusual guy. He is doing this for two reasons - he loves American football and relishes the challenge. He has said that all he ever wanted from professional sport was enough money to buy his mother a house, everything after that was a bonus. He wanted to go to college to play football in the US a few years ago but couldn’t as he hadn’t finished high school. He said that he would have felt like a hypocrite encouraging kids to follow their dreams if he didn’t follow his. He has even said that part of the experience is humbling himself.
He is deeply religious and leads a very quiet life even in Sydney. He still hangs around with the same friends he has had for years and spends lots of evenings at an average pub near where I work. He plays poker with a bunch of guys and eats dinner there. He sure doesn’t act like a rich athlete.
Last week he was asked about all the hype and said:
I just keep being me. I’m not writing articles, it’s everybody else. I know what I’m doing here, I know why I’m here, so I think for me, it’s always been the main focus, and always will be. I don’t think about that. It’s not my concern, it’s not my job. My job’s here to learn football and to get myself up to speed as fast and as accurate as I can.
Asked how he felt when he realized he belonged in the NFL he said:
Hasn’t happened yet. Still learning. It’s still fresh. I’ve been training for about three or four months now, and it’s still fresh. Learning everyday. I’m gonna make mistakes, and learn from my mistakes as well.
I think the proof of his sincerity is the way the 49ers players have accepted him.
By the way Hayne chose 38 because it was the number he was given when he signed with Parramatta while at high school
What to do in pass coverage is one of those things he is going to be way behind on. He certainly can be taught and I’m sure he knows the basics but he hasn’t been doing it long enough for it to be instinctual. There are some pass plays that are strict timing patterns. You run to this point and when you turn the ball will be there. Most plays give a little more leeway to the QB and the catcher, in particular with running backs. You don’t see as many timing patterns with RBs it’s usually receivers across the middle. Being able to get open on broken plays is important for RBs because they are often the safety valve.
This is incorrect, for kicking specialists. They must wear numbers from 1 to 19 (the same range as QBs).
I haven’t watched the game yet, but it looks like Hayne did it again. 10 rushes, 58 yards, two catches for 17 yards, and three punt returns for 43 yards.
Sure, it was a week four preseason game. But seriously - who has had a better preseason than this guy?
Only three other players had more all-purpose yards, one RB had more rushing yards, but on 40% more carries. Hayne’s 7.0 YPA was second behind Hillman of the Broncos.
He’s productive, fun to watch, sure handed, fearless, teachable. He absolutely leveled San Diego cornerback Lowell Rose by lowering his shoulder for impact like the coaches told him. This was after subtly nuking and out running another defender on a screen pass.
Has someone had a better preseason? Maybe fellow Niner nose tackle Mike Purcell. The 49ers cut Darnell Dockett probably too keep Purcell.
Zach Zenner of the Lions went from an undrafted free agent from South Dakota State to the preseason leading rusher and likely a roster spot. Tyler Lockett and Marcus Peters also had great preseasons. But Zenner I think has gone the farthest.
Once again, Hayne’s main area for improvement seems to be his decision-making.
On one of San Diego’s punts, he chased down a bouncing ball and picked it up at about the 5-yard line, and ran it back about 6 or 7 yards. It looked pretty clear that the ball was going to bounce into the endzone, which would have brought it back out to the 20. He probably would have been better to let it go.
At the same time, though, i’ve seen plenty of punt returners make worse decisions about when to try and return the ball…
Yeah, with Bell looking solid the last couple years, Abdullah coming in as the high draft pick, Riddick looking good last year as the third down back, and Zenner looking like he did, It’s going to be an interesting RB rotation decision this year for Caldwell.
Nobody is a serious lock for time, but all look like they deserve a chance.
That is a good example of what I was talking about earlier. Lowell Rose is a marginal player who may or may not make the team. What does doing well against him and other similar players mean? I don’t know. Hopefully the coaching staff is better than me at that.
Preseason stats are meaningless. Football stats in general are not very useful in small sample sizes; coaches are going to look at the film. The big thing working against him is the combination of his rawness and his age; you don’t sign 27 year old developmental projects.
That being said, I’d be surprised if he isn’t somewhere in the NFL this season. At a minimum, he belongs on someone’s practice squad. He’s got the size/speed/instincts, he seems to have the hands to catch passes. His blocking likely needs work, but that’s true of half the rookie RBs in the NFL.
Which is it?
Anyway, he’s not a project, he’s ready to go right now as a kick and punt returner. They’ll continue to work at plays from scrimmage at practice during the season, but they’ll be getting production from him in the meantime.
It’s official, Hayne made the 49ers’ 53-man roster.
The “expert” analysis is that in week 1 he will not be part of the offense and will be kept on special teams but not necessarily as the main returner. But the only expert that matters is the coaching staff. Let’s see what happens.
Sweet, I can’t wait to see how he does in his first regular season game.
There is a good chance that his role will be limited in the beginning. If Reggie Bush is a bust (which is a definite possibility) his role will be expanded.