Unconfirmed report suggests Jarryd Hayne has been assured 49ers 53-man roster spot

Fooch's note: Hayne's mom confirmed in an interview she will be flying to the Bay Area to watch the final preseason game.

There is an unconfirmed report floating around the Internet this morning that Jarryd Hayne has told his family that he will be on the San Francisco 49ers 53-man roster this season. An anonymous rugby commenter with a decent-sized Twitter following (68,400 followers) posted this yesterday afternoon, and it was picked up by a website called The Roar.

BREAKING BIG SCOOP...Jarryd Hayne has told family and friends he's in 53 man roster with @49ers

— The Mole (@RLW_Mole) August 31, 2015

As with any rumor that does not come from one our known sources, we do have to take this with a grain of salt. After all, there is still another round of roster cuts, and it is entirely possible the 49ers either change their mind on this, or have not in fact decided on this. It is all speculation.

But I do think it is interesting in light of Hayne's performance this past Saturday. He got fairly limited work in the areas of returning and running, with one punt return and eight offensive snaps. However, he did have eight additional special teams snaps working on the various coverage units.

After the game, Matt Maiocco suggested that if Hayne is the primary punt returner, why not give him even more opportunities to improve himself. Jim Tomsula may have sort of addressed that point in his Sunday conference call. He effectively said, we know what he can do based on game film, practice, and what he has done in rugby league. While picking up blockers is new for him, the basic skills of punt returning compare favorably with what he did in rugby league. It makes sense that the team might be completely comfortable with his punt return skillset.

Here is the full transcript of Tomsula's comments about Hayne:

First of all, to separate Jarryd from the total picture, I'm pretty confident in Jarryd's ability to field the ball. I've see him field, I've watched a ton of tape on this guy fielding a rugby ball. I've seen him field here at practice. I've seen him field in game situations. So, I feel very good about his abilities to field. I feel very good about his abilities to perform with a ball in his hands on special teams. The tackling part of it and the coverage parts of it, seen a lot of improvement there. I mean the guy will fly down the field in those areas, so all of those things we've seen, I've seen what I need to see. I think it's been a great evaluation on him.

Now as a group, obviously we've got a couple of people working in that return room. You saw Reggie doing it, you saw Bruce Ellington doing it. You see Alabama getting a chance. I mean we've got to see what he's got. I've seen Reggie do it in games. I've seen Bruce Ellington do it in games. So, we're just, we're looking at Alabama and seeing how he's doing.