SANTA CLARA — Under the bright-lights stage of a “Monday Night Football” season opener, the 49ers’ new punt returner muffed his first chance, fumbling the ball right back to the opponent.
That was Jarryd Hayne’s awful introduction in 2015 to a short-lived NFL career, although his fumble did not cost the 49ers victory in a 20-3 home win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Come this season’s opener on Monday, Sept. 9 at Levi’s Stadium against the New York Jets, rookie Jacob Cowing is expected to debut as the 49ers’ fast-and-ambitious punt returner and occasional offensive weapon.
“I personally don’t think about the future too much,” Cowing said after Monday’s practice. “I’m more of a stay-in-the-present kind of guy. I haven’t thought of that yet.”
The 49ers, in deploying a fourth-round draft pick, liked the thought of Cowing returning punts and spicing up their offense. Injuries hindered his onboarding process, however. Then, once he recovered from a hamstring injury and gained confidence in his health after a couple of practices, Cowing was off and running to a roster spot.
The 49ers must reveal their initial 53-man roster by 1 p.m. Tuesday. Cowing’s literal acceleration figures to keep him aboard, and it could push veteran return specialist Trent Taylor to a practice-squad job.
“Punt return is fun,” Cowing said. “I first got introduced to it my junior year (at Arizona) and honed in on it my senior year. I got really good at fielding the ball. Here, too, I got really comfortable seeing the ball off the kicker’s foot. I track it, get to my spot, gather my feet, and then just go out there to play fast.”
Cowing, who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds at the scouting combine, returned only 18 punts the past two seasons at Arizona, after none in three previous years at Texas-El Paso. He didn’t score on any of those returns, and the 49ers haven’t returned a punt for a touchdown since Ted Ginn Jr. in their 2011 opener.
Cowing, however, speaks with confidence about that role, at least in terms of how he might field a New York Jets punt on opening night.
“The main thing I really got taught was the way the nose of ball is when it comes off the foot of punter,” Cowing said. “It tells you what direction it is going to go, so once I see the nose of the ball if it’s pointing up or down, I can sprint to that spot and get set, gather my feet, see the coverage and try to make an explosive play happen.”
Cowing believes more time exists to field booming punts in the NFL as compared to college. He’ll learn quickly in two weeks the speed of the NFL game ratchets up in the regular season.
Coach Kyle Shanahan praised Cowing’s poise as a punt returner in the preseason (five for 38 yards, one fair catch). Cowing caught all three passes targeted to him in Friday’s preseason finale, including a touchdown throw from Josh Dobbs. A 38-yard, over-the-shoulder catch in his preseason debut against New Orleans also drew praise.
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Cowing’s game-day role going forward figures to include cameos on offense, from end-around runs to slot-receiver duties. He described his mindset as: “Just going out and playing my game. Be myself. And playing fast. … Play fast, like you’ve been doing since UTEP.”
On April 27, the day he got drafted, Cowing was quick and to the point on his goals: “I want to bring that Super Bowl ring back to the Bay Area, to the 49ers organization. So, wherever they need to plug me in to be successful, to go get that W, I’m going to do whatever I need to do for that team to go get a win.”
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