49ers now in the race for Hayne

The San Francisco 49ers have been thrown into the mix as a potential NFL home for former rugby league star Jarryd Hayne.

Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne

The San Francisco 49ers have been thrown into the mix as the potential NFL home for Jarryd Hayne. (AAP)

The San Francisco 49ers have offered Jarryd Hayne an intriguing blueprint on how they would transform him from a rugby league star into a successful NFL player, Hayne's US agent Jack Bechta says.

Contradicting Australian media reports, Bechta said Hayne has not settled on the Detroit Lions as his team of choice.

Hayne was deciding between the 49ers, Lions and the Seattle Seahawks and could also take as long as early next week to select a team.

The emergence of San Francisco as one of Hayne's potential future NFL homes came after the former Parramatta Eel and dual Dally M Medal winner visited the 49ers in December for a workout.

Hayne spoke with Trent Baalke, general manger of the 49ers, and Jim Tomsula, then the team's defensive line coach, who has since been promoted to head coach.

Tomsula has a long history of turning rugby league and union players, track and field and other athletes into NFL players during an eight-year stint coaching NFL Europe teams.

"Trent and his team had a blueprint for how they could help Jarryd succeed that was very intriguing and on point, Bechta told the Sacramento Bee newspaper on Tuesday.

British Olympic discus thrower Lawrence Okoye, who stands 198cm tall and weighs 138kg, joined the 49ers in 2013 largely because of Tomsula's background.

The 49ers are also keen to bolster their punt-returning after ranking a poor 29th out of the 32 NFL teams in punt-return average last season.

Bechta, who has remained quiet with the media since being hired by Hayne, was also interviewed by one of America's leading NFL websites on Tuesday.

The online interview was accompanied by the release of video of Hayne's December workout in front of NFL team representatives at the University of San Diego.

"As of right now, we have narrowed the field down to three teams and a decision will be made soon," Bechta told the nationalfootballpost.com.

The teams were the 49ers, Lions and Seahawks, but the agent added New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, Denver Broncos, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets have also shown interest.

Bechta said after the San Francisco workout, the Dallas Cowboys, San Diego Chargers, New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins requested to see video of the session.


Share

3 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world