Hayne’s National Football League debut seems unlikely

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Tomsula is either bracing Australia for the reality Jarryd Hayne won’t play in the season-opener, or he’s putting up a giant smoke screen.

On Friday, Tomsula and special teams co-ordinator Thomas McGaughey both played down the Australian’s chances of suiting up to face the Vikings, although they did not completely rule him out.

“I don’t want to take anything away from what the man has achieved but all he’s achieved was an opportunity to be in the locker room”, Tomsula told reporters on Thursday. ESPN lists Hayne as the Niners’ first-string kick returner and second-string punt returner behind Bush, although Hayne returned one kickoff and nine punts during the preseason.

The three players can contribute in other positions, with Bush as running back and White and Ellington as wide-receivers.

The San Francisco 49ers depth chart also shows how Jarryd Hayne has impressed the organization’s coaching staff as a running back, with the Australian third behind number one Carlos Hyde and second-ranked Bush.

Tomsula said in a conference call Saturday that the text to Hayne read, “You’ve got yourself to the starting line, and it’s a long race”. Tomsula asked. A young player that needs to mature a little bit as far as just getting experience.

It’s less than a week since Hayne, who played in four pre-season games, was selected by the battling 49ers. So, we’ve got to kind of keep everything in perspective and understand the preseason is the preseason and right now is right now.

“This is real bullets; [That] was paintball”.

“In Jarryd s situation, just like everybody that is a first-year player here, you re into the game preparation now”. “But we ve also got to stay on the development side”.

Everybody is flying the Hayne Plane right now, but if you look at who led our team in punt returns in the preseason, it wasn t Jarryd Hayne.

“Obviously Jarryd has the body position, balance and leverage positions”. Because, if they re out-kicking the coverage and that ball is going, it s going to hit and travel and roll.

“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 how to use them?”

So, did Hayne help or hurt his cause when he made that theatrical, over-the-shoulder catch on a punt return against the Dallas Cowboys on September 23?