RB Depth

Originally posted by SoCold:
you don't ride the cart to the locker room and miss a Thursday practice for just a "cramped up calf muscle"

Bush has a strained calf. It does not appear all that serious. He will miss the Pittsburgh game. After that, we will see.

Hyde, Bush, Davis, and Hayne seem to provide us with good depth; better than many teams have.

The original poster was mistaken about the team dumping Gore. Gore was a free agent. Baalke indicated that the team wanted him to return. Gore ended up with the Colts.

He led the Colts in rushing with 8 carries for 31 yards. He also had two rfeceptions for 0 yards.
He might have been cramping up, but for whatever reason he did not see much action.

Originally posted by billbird2111:
If you read between the lines -- Davis might be the better option at running the ball. But Hayne is simply a better blocker at this point. Backup running backs need to know how to block. And if Hayne is clearly the better blocker? He's likely the number two back this weekend against Pittsburgh.

dont even need to read between the lines....Geep said as much during a presser this week. Hayne will be RB2 at PIT

Originally posted by boast:

Originally posted by billbird2111:

If you read between the lines -- Davis might be the better option at running the ball. But Hayne is simply a better blocker at this point. Backup running backs need to know how to block. And if Hayne is clearly the better blocker? He's likely the number two back this weekend against Pittsburgh.

dont even need to read between the lines....Geep said as much during a presser this week. Hayne will be RB2 at PIT

Hayne has certainly come a long way in a very short time but the comments from Geep and Kap about the confidence they have in him in pass pro are amazing. This is not a boastful comment from an Aussie fan, I'm as surprised as anyone at how quickly things are moving forward with him.

Originally posted by Zealot:
Hayne has certainly come a long way in a very short time but the comments from Geep and Kap about the confidence they have in him in pass pro are amazing. This is not a boastful comment from an Aussie fan, I'm as surprised as anyone at how quickly things are moving forward with him.

Agree! Some RBs go their whole careers without learning how to block. The way Hayne has picked up football is a sign of his great athleticism and intelligence.

DEPTH - We have Gaskin on the PS - right?

GORE - We wouldn't have kept Gore anyway - yeah, Baalke "wanted" him back at a low price. But honestly, love the guy, but I am glad he is gone because he is in decline (maybe he has 1 more great year, but you don't over pay hoping on that) and we needed to move on and cut the cord with him as the security blanket for the offense anyway.

HUNTER - they must have seen he lost a step to be an in season RB - played him in the pre-season to see if he could break a couple and be trade bait?? My only question is why release him now, he was already on IR. Maybe Hunter wanted a chance to play elsewhere?

HYDE - Heir apparent, but risk is he hasn't played an NFL season and he will likely wear down. MY CONCERN is that when guys get worn down injuries occur. Once injured, your body makes tiny adjustments to compensate and pretty soon something else is injured too. IMHO, with NFL player salaries giving them the luxury today, it won't surprise me if you see more players taking "a year off" to get whole again a la Anthony Davis

BUSH - lightning and dud - no team should ever count on a whole season from him. I say get him healthy, give him as light a work load as possible in the first 3 quarters of the season, then unless his fresh speed on teams at the end of the year and maybe in the play-offs - YEAH, I'm still hoping for play-offs, LOL.

HAYNE - Love the guy, and somehow makes guys miss and gains yards - but is it just me, does he look like he's running slow motion sometimes? LOL.

DAVIS - OK, looked ok against 2nds and 3rds but didn't show a ton in preseason to make you think he's starter ability.

GASKIN - He's a load, but didn't show much either.

Originally posted by HearstFan:

HAYNE - Love the guy, and somehow makes guys miss and gains yards - but is it just me, does he look like he's running slow motion sometimes? LOL.

A lot of people comment on that. He's not the fastest on the field but I think it's just smoothness and conservation of effort that make him look slow. Another theory is that he has a slowmo button he can flick to give the coaches more opportunity to admire his style

Count me as someone who isn't sold on Mike Davis. He dances way too much. Actually kinda reminds me of Barlow.

Originally posted by All22:
Count me as someone who isn't sold on Mike Davis. He dances way too much. Actually kinda reminds me of Barlow.

Totally disagree! He is a very quick player through the hole! Loved him in preseason and hope it translates to the season...if needed!

Its simple really, Davis backs up Hyde, as every down bell cow, Hyde backs up Bush, and third down back, Bush is hurt, Hyde is up.

What ever happened to that one kid we released last year in preseason. I cant remember his name, but he was tearing it up.

Originally posted by natrone06:
I think you are expecting unrealistic depth in todays nfl. Having a bell cow, a change of pace back and two promising "young" guys behind them is about as good as any team in the nfl. Fred Jackson as a backup is a anomaly not the norm.

Not really. I just would have preferred someone more that type to Bush and/or Hunter's roster spot. Either a true vet ala Jackson, (who personally I would have signed even if it meant dumping Bush like we did with Campbell) or someone else who would have competed instead of Hunter for a roster spot who has legit NFL experience without the injury worry.

Our track record at drafting/bringing in RBs is spotty at best outside of Gore and hopefully Hyde. We will see with Davis/Hayne. We all have high hopes, but only time will tell. There have been plenty of webzone darlings that after a preseason or a game or two we were ready to declare as HOFers who flamed out or never developed.

In theory, Bush is exactly what we need, except for the major injury question marks. And given that the guy in front of him is only a second year player who also had injury issues last year and hasn't made it through an NFL season healthy yet and the guys behind him have zero experience, I'm just surprised we didn't try and bring in someone who represents a more stable option in case of any injury or performance issue to Hyde.

And for those saying "we would be in trouble at any position with an injury", that is true, but very few positions do you roll 4+ deep and only need one starter.

Seems to me there is plenty of room on the roster for a true back up RB. Between the 3rd and 4th roster spots (Hayne plus another rook) we should have been able to address the "change of pace" option. I would have much rather had someone a bit more durable with at least some NFL experience between Hyde and the rooks.

Just my opinion. And maybe I'm biased because I don't trust Bush to stay healthy and I never have. On any team, let alone my team. And I hope I'm wrong. I hope everyone stays healthy and that by the GB game, Davis and Hayne look like vets who make me think this was a ridiculous concern.

But on the off chance, our rookie RBs don't work out (they haven't since Gore other than Hyde so far), or that Hyde gets hurt (which he did in the one season on record), I would have rather had someone who is more of a true back up and less injury prone (already missing games) than Bush.

Originally posted by DrGonzo00:
Yea I think we're fine and would be surprised if Davis isn't the backup this week. Hayne, for the hype and excitement, isn't a RB. Maybe he's a situational guy but I wouldn't trust him in pass protection. That's where Hyde and Davis can come in. I could see hesitation about Davis in pass protection, but he's got to be better than Hayne in that regard.

I'm also expecting the worst with Bush. I don't think he'll be back until Week 3 at the earliest. But this kind of thing was expected for me. We held him out in the preseason and he goes down Week 1 with a calf strain. Can't rely on him. Get Davis some reps.

Hayne himself admits that he has adapted really well to pass protection but is no where near perfect, hey but who is.

Kap and the coaches have been raving about how he has picked it up so good news there for the team.

Having just flown in on the Hayne Plane i obviously haven't been around previous years like a lot of you guys but the RB depth looks excellent to me.Injuries of cause could change that but hey I'm excited.

Originally posted by Red1:
Hayne himself admits that he has adapted really well to pass protection but is no where near perfect, hey but who is.

Kap and the coaches have been raving about how he has picked it up so good news there for the team.

Having just flown in on the Hayne Plane i obviously haven't been around previous years like a lot of you guys but the RB depth looks excellent to me.Injuries of cause could change that but hey I'm excited.

Originally posted by dtg_9er:

We may find out more about Davis against The Pitts especially if Ellington ends up being out and Hayne gets the role of PR/KR.

Hayne is obviously a natural in open play despite the muff and I think he has been pretty good in picking up the RB position so far.

I'm smiling so far knowing that all the experts have said no way Hayne will make it(done, ill score that as 7 zip) and no way the 49ers are doing anything this year(More pts to come).

Fingers crossed by end of year the 49ers have shown a lot of people just like Haynesy did that anything is possible.

Faith and Belief

Originally posted by Red1:


We may find out more about Davis against The Pitts especially if Ellington ends up being out and Hayne gets the role of PR/KR.

Hayne is obviously a natural in open play despite the muff and I think he has been pretty good in picking up the RB position so far.

I'm smiling so far knowing that all the experts have said no way Hayne will make it(done, ill score that as 7 zip) and no way the 49ers are doing anything this year(More pts to come).

Fingers crossed by end of year the 49ers have shown a lot of people just like Haynesy did that anything is possible.

Faith and Belief

I'll have to admit to being skeptical! But his ability in the open field is just scary good! He has to learn to be quicker hitting the holes as a RB but he's improved greatly and is already the backup! He's got the size and craftiness to be at least useful and at best great!