Victor Bolden Jr. put up good numbers during his career at Oregon State, but was passed over in the NFL draft.
Yet the rookie is making a strong bid to make the 49ers roster during this training camp.
Bolden, just 5-foot-8 and 178 pounds, came into camp as a long shot, but the former Beavers standout showed in Saturday night’s exhibition loss to the Denver Broncos that he could be a big contributor on special teams in 2017.
Bolden returned a kickoff 104 yards for a touchdown. Though he’s not as skilled a receiver as most of the players he’s competing with, his speed and elusiveness in the return game could give him the edge over Raheem Mostert in the battle to return kickoffs.
At Oregon State, Bolden returned three kickoffs for touchdowns in his four-year career and also took a punt all the way for a score. As a kick returner, he averaged 22.4 yards on 108 kickoffs. On punts, 9.8 yards on 19 attempts. Bolden was a hurdler in high school and also for one season in college, and gets his speed from his mother, who was a record-setting sprinter and hurdler in college, according to his scouting report on NFL.com.
Bolden’s big night against the Broncos follows his exhibition debut a week earlier against the Chiefs, when he had two kick returns for 63 yards, including a long of 37. Against the Broncos he had 184 yards on five returns.
Noted James Brady of SB Nation: “Bolden looks just as fast, decisive and shifty as advertised. Throughout training camp, Bolden was a popular target and made some flashy plays on offense. He hasn’t really done that on offense through two preseason games, but he genuinely feels like a dangerous returner.”
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Though Bolden came into camp with long odds against earning a spot on the team, he’s confident he can produce if given a chance.
“I think with my speed and being able to make plays in space and being able to do more than one thing on the field definitely caught the eye of a lot of NFL coaches,” he said recently in an interview on the 49ers Webzone podcast. “I just want to continue to do the right thing and do all the little details that I need to do to make sure that I can provide that on the next level. Just working hard and getting ready for this opportunity.”
