The Avenger, I didn't get to read your intial response so no hard feelings.
I've watched Gridiron for over 30 years so I think I have a fairly good take on the sport.
There's no doubt that Hayne is a fantastic athlete, he has being honing his bodies requirements to play RL for over 10 years, a sport of bodily contact with lengthy periods of running over 2x40 minutes halves with attack and defence coming in quick succession. He is the consumate all-rounder, this is what enables RL players to play very well in various positions. He could play Loose, in the halves, on the wing, centre, second row (with a few kg added on) hooker, probably only Prop evades him but could by bulking up.
There's actually very little difference between most positions in RL, you learn to tackle and pass as a kid, the are the basic fundamentals, we all know how to kick grubbers/bombs just few do it at the top level. Most could slot over a kick from in front of the posts too (and in Paul Anderson's case from the touchline too..lol)
By comparison NFL is very specific, so much so that very very few players are able to cover other positions.
As for experience (in a pro sport environ) isn't always a guide as to how well someone will do, just look at young kids coming through in RL, no fear, wet behind the ears and play incredible rugby. Because our sport is massively less technical than NFL, put a 17/18 yr old kid into a pro NFL game and he'd be cut to shreds and taken off shortly afterwards, it just wouldn't happen anyway. The youngest ever player is 19 (funnily his surname is Okoye too) and only because he'd finished his college education having started it at 16. A rare occurance in itself.
I think the fact that Hayne is a big name in another sport is going to hinder him, fear of failure, fear of making a fool of yourself/not cutting the mustard. Human beings have similar natural reactions/fears, training ourselves to overcome these is difficult and when in stress situations they tend to come to the fore. The spotlight will be on him from certain circles and some will be happy if he fails. I'm not one of them.
That said in my considered opinion I just don't think he will make it, I don't think a team will risk putting him on the field as a punt/kick returner even if they wanted to. Realistically it is the only position he could go straight into as it's the most basic of positions (even more basic than place kickers/punters).
Let's see what happens and IF he does get a chance I'll be watching with interest
And yes, the tackling by the Safety's and some linebackers leaves a lot to be desired, they make similar mistakes to RL players, tackling bigger players up top and just get pushed off, run over or the attacker makes a whole load more yards. They could learn a lot frankly and I watch in amazement how easily some of them drop off tackles or even can't figure out where the runner is going, distinctly odd in fact some of the mindless defence that happens but some of that is pressure/speed of thought.
As for Okoye (discus), an amazing physical specimen, intelligent and motivated, unlucky to get injured and was cut by the 9'ers back in August only to come back due to injuries. He's run a 100m FASTER than Hayne @ 11.02s, his 40yd dash of 4.74 in his combine is incredible (faster than JJ WATT even!) yet he's 32kg heavier than Hayne !! It just just shows you how incredibly difficult it is to break into the sport with zero technical experience even with all the physical attributes such as that Okoye has (And you never know he might get a game this season)
