49ers: 5 players who aren’t helping their roster chances during OTAs
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: 49ers Wide Receiver Jalen Hurd
On one hand, it’s good third-year wide receiver Jalen Hurd is back working out and preparing for his 2021 campaign after tearing his ACL in training camp last year.
On the other, he has yet to partake in any team-related activities and has remained on the sideline working out with trainers instead of running routes and developing chemistry with the Niners’ quarterbacks.
Hurd has already missed the last two years with serious injuries, and the former third-round NFL Draft pick has yet to take a regular-season snap at the pro level.
Sure, Hurd’s 6-foot-4 frame and overpowering physique are enticing. And quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo even told San Francisco’s 95.7 The Game he’s “dying to get him” on the field as soon as possible.
Yet Hurd only had one year of wide receiver experience at the collegiate level at Baylor after transferring from Tennessee where he served as a running back. The lack of actual receiving reps at any level doesn’t help him at all, and all those injury setbacks work against him, too.
Hurd is one of those players who needed to get on the field as soon as possible, and the fact he has yet to do so isn’t working towards his benefit.