San Francisco 49ers: Jalen Hurd will make an immediate impact in 2019

The San Francisco 49ers selected wide receiver Jalen Hurd in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft and with his versatility, he is set to make an immediate impact

The San Francisco 49ers selected converted wide receiver Jalen Hurd of Baylor in the third round of the 2019 NFL draft, a round after selecting Deebo Samuel — both guys coached by head coach Kyle Shanahan in the Senior Bowl.

Hurd is kind of a polarizing prospect in the draft community as his success as a running back at Tennessee has many people thinking he should have stayed at that position. Many believed that he wouldn’t be able to develop enough as a receiver in only one year of college — but he did exactly that.

Hurd started his college career in his hometown state, Tennessee, and started as the Volunteers running back as a true freshman and a sophomore. In his freshman year, Hurd gained 899 yards and seven touchdowns (two receiving) with a 4.7 average per attempt.

His numbers went up during his sophomore year when he gained 1,285 yards and 14 touchdowns (two receiving) with a 4.6 average. This is as a 6-foot-4, 225-pound guy which is of course, mostly unheard of as most running backs generally range from 5-foot-9 to the absolute tallest at 6-foot-3.

While he was effective despite his size, his lower body took a beating as even though he was able to get low for someone of his stature, his legs are long and going to be exposed more than most backs.

This made Hurd want to change positions which lead to him transferring to Baylor — giving up a year of eligibility in the process. He explained his rationale in an interview posted on Baylor football’s Twitter account back in 2018.

"“My body was not really feeling that well at running back. I had a lot of injuries at Tennessee. The switch has been great for me to rest my body. I’ll be able to play a lot longer, I think, at this position.”"

This would make it so that he only had one year to develop as a receiver before the draft — and it turned out to be the right decision.

Hurd was a versatile weapon for the Baylor Bears, playing a role similar to that of former NFL receiver Percy Harvin, but with opposite bodies in terms of size. In the above tape, Hurd shows all of his skills and his versatility getting carries as a back and making big plays in the slot.

While his route-running is raw and Baylor’s route tree was not very extensive, he didn’t look bad running deep routes. In fact, I’d say he looked better on those than he did on intermediate or short routes, despite those being the majority of the routes he ran.

Again, his route-running is still raw, and not the crispest, but it’s impressive for a guy who’s been playing only a year at the position. And with the after-catch ability he has, it’s good enough for him to get playing time his rookie year.

The most impressive things about Hurd are his quickness, acceleration, and shiftiness for a 6-foot-4, 225-pound guy. In the tape above versus Kansas State, at (4:56) you will see his vision as a back on display.

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And at (7:12) his big-play ability is evident as he takes it to the house for a 40-yard touchdown on 3rd-and-1. Baylor actually used Hurd as their short-yardage back most of the time and he usually converted despite the defense knowing he was getting the ball when he was lined up in the backfield.

The biggest problem with Hurd is his blocking and overall physicality. As said earlier, his short and intermediate route-running is not the best. That’s primarily as a result of physical corners knocking him off his routes and being touchy with him within five yards.

His blocking is not only weak but he whiffs very often and doesn’t even get a hand on a guy — an example of that at (1:15) in the video. This is less important, however, as he mostly played in the slot.

Another smaller flaw would be his hands.

I say smaller not because having bad hands isn’t as detrimental as not being physical or a good blocker as a wide receiver, but because his hands are ultimately good. It’s just that the drops he did have usually slid right through his hands and were supposed to be routine catches.

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Examples of that in the Kansas State game are at (10:59) where the ball was thrown perfectly on a short slant route and again at (12:31) where he can’t maintain control after being hit. The last one also goes into him needing to get stronger and be more physical.

While Hurd is a big receiver, he plays more like a smaller, speedy slot receiver. That said, he does take advantage of his length at times high-pointing the ball in the air allowing him to make plays over shorter defensive backs.

At the same time, he is not the type of receiver who is going to make a lot of catches in traffic as that’s simply not his game.

Overall, Hurd is a guy that a great offensive mind like Shanahan can make good use of. He was drafted into a perfect situation to make an immediate impact.

In my personal scouting report on Jalen Hurd, I gave him a 6.52 grade as a second-round talent which projects him as being a future starter who will make a rookie impact using this scale.

If that turns out to be true, Hurd was a steal where he was selected. And if anyone can make use of Hurd’s skills despite his inexperience and flaws, it’s Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers.