Jalen Hurd instantly became the San Francisco 49ers' tallest wide receiver when the team selected him in the third round on Friday night. He visited with the 49ers in Santa Clara on April 16, which happened to be the same day Deebo Samuel visited. The two are now teammates.
Hurd got the sense that the 49ers might be looking to improve their receiver corps.
"I could definitely see that they needed some value in the receiver position," Hurd told Bay Area reporters during a conference call after the 49ers drafted him. "I definitely knew that I might be a possibility and other people were, as well, but Deebo is a great athlete. It's a future teammate, so it's cool to be a part of it."
Hurd left his visit impressed with the 49ers and their head coach, Kyle Shanahan. He knew immediately after the visit that he wanted to be a part of what is being built in Santa Clara.
What exactly was it that appealed to the former Baylor receiver?
"Well, Shanahan is obviously an offensive genius, so being in his offense, being a part of that organization, they are a very historic and great organization in the past," Hurd responded. "So just to be a part of that and Shanahan's offense, it's going to be something special."
Hurd knows he can be a versatile weapon on the 49ers offense. He used to be a running back so he can carry the football. Shanahan hinted that Hurd might even find himself getting some carries during his career or possibly adding some weight, if needed, and playing tight end.
"He can do about everything," Shanahan told reporters on Friday. "I think if he would have stayed a running back, I believe he would have gotten drafted as an NFL running back. Today, he got drafted as an NFL receiver, kind of. I believe if he tried to play tight end, I think he could have gotten drafted as an NFL tight end.
"That's a pretty neat thing to have. I don't remember ever being able to say that about any player I've studied before, so it's neat to be able to do that and he can help us out in a lot of different ways."
Shanahan didn't want to send the wrong message. Hurd will start his NFL career as a receiver and work with wide receivers coach Wes Welker.
"I don't want to make the 'offensive weapon' mistake, and then every day you guys ask me, 'when are we going to see this?'" Shanahan said, referring to the label he and Lynch put on fullback Kyle Juszczyk after signing him in 2017. "He's a receiver. There's lots of neat things you can do with him. He's not going to tight end every other day. I'm just saying there's lots of possibilities with him, and that's the type of guy we drafted. But we drafted a receiver today."
