Hayne closer to NFL dream with 49ers
MELBOURNE: Australian rugby league international Jarryd Hayne is one step closer to his realising his dream of carving out an NFL career after securing a futures contract with the San Francisco 49ers.
The 27-year-old announced his deal at a media conference in Sydney yesterday, five months after stunning sports-mad Australia by quitting the country’s top-flight rugby league competition to try his hand in American football.
Hayne fielded interest from three NFL clubs, turning down the Seattle Seahawks and Detroit Lions before opting for the 49ers.
“From 2015, I’m going to be a San Francisco 49er,” said Hayne, who played 176 games for NRL club Parramatta Eels, scoring 103 tries won 12 caps with the Kangaroos, the national team.
“This is a small step in the right direction, the hard stuff starts now.
“The hard stuff starts now. Mentally I’m ready for anything. I’m going to do what it takes.”
Players on futures deals are locked up exclusively to train with their NFL team in a 90-man camp, which is progressively whittled down to select players for an active 53-man roster.
Hayne was one of Australia’s highest paid players in the National Rugby League and was joint winner of the “Dally M” award as player of the season last year.
His bid to break into the NFL, one of the world’s most competitive professional sports leagues, has enthralled Australia, with regular updates in local media and rampant speculation over his playing future.
Hayne said he had settled on the 49ers because of the team’s new coach Jim Tomsula, who was promoted from defensive line coach in January after Jim Harbaugh’s departure.
Tomsula coached NFL Europe side Rhein Fire in 2006 and Hayne said he had experience working with rugby players.
“We spent about an hour together in Europe and he spent so much time with rugby players,” Hayne said.
“Obviously it was Jim’s knowledge of transitioning players which made the perfect fit to join the 49ers.”
A number of Australians have carved out careers in the NFL since track and field athlete Colin Ridgeway broke ground with a handful of games for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960s.
No Australian in top-flight rugby league has ever made the switch, however, and Hayne said last year he would return to Parramatta if his 12-month project to win an NFL deal fell through.