The Facts: Entering a contract year, Hyde knows he must raise his level of production even higher if he wants to get rewarded next offseason with a lucrative deal. To get that, Hyde reworked his body this offseason, shedding a little weight to get under 230 pounds for the first time since high school. "Just going into this season I wanted to do things different, do something different that I haven't done," Hyde said. "I've always played at 230 pounds and above. I've had success playing at that weight before, but I just wanted to do something different. I wanted this whole season to be different."

Diehards Line:Hyde’s work has made an impression on his coaches with Kyle Shanahan talking about sensing a major change in work ethic and attention to detail about midway through OTAs. That only continued into the early days of training camp. ”He’s taken it to another level,” Shanahan said. ... Hyde is hoping for far better results this season than he had in his first three seasons since being drafted in the second round out of Ohio State. Hyde stayed mostly healthy last season, playing 13 games and finishing with 988 yards, but he feels he left many more big plays on the field that he hopes will improve this season under acclaimed running backs coach Bobby Turner. But Hyde will have some competition in fourth-round pick Joe Williams, veteran Tim Hightower, undrafted free agent Matt Breida and Kapri Bibbs. Turner and coach Kyle Shanahan base their offense heavily on the outside zone run, where backs patiently run down the line of scrimmage before spotting a hole and making a quick cut upfield with acceleration. Hyde has used his strength to be more of an inside runner in his career and also must learn how to be a better receiver after catching just 50 passes his first three seasons.