Jarryd Hayne's odds of playing running back at the San Francisco 49ers this NFL season just got a little bleaker.
The 49ers selected University of Florida running back Kelvin Taylor on Saturday with a sixth-round pick at the NFL Draft in Chicago.
Taylor is the 22-year-old son of Pro Bowl running back Fred Taylor and possesses a quality Hayne lacked in the Australian's rookie season with the 49ers last year.
While Hayne fumbled three times, including dropping a punt in the regular season opener, Taylor never fumbled during his 486 carries and 510 touches at Florida.
"We got him on the phone and the thing he said was, 'You won't regret this decision'," 49ers general manager Trent Baalke, discussing Taylor, told reporters
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"That really gave us insight to who he really was."
With the addition of Taylor, the 49ers have Hayne, Carlos Hyde, Shaun Draughn, DuJuan Harris, Mike Davis and Kendall Gaskins at running back.
The 49ers, with about 90 players on their off-season roster, will cut their squad to 53 before the start of the NFL season in September, with two of the running backs likely to be casualties.
The 49ers took three running backs into each game last season.
Hayne's prospects are helped by his utility value as a back-up running back who can also be the team's punt and kick returner on the special teams unit.
