The New York Giants traded up in the 2023 NFL Draft to land one of college football’s most explosive playmakers — a Biletnikoff Award winner whose elite speed warped coverages and turned routine snaps into instant touchdowns. Two years later, Jalin Hyatt is no longer a weapon. He’s a warning sign.
What was supposed to be a home-run pick has instead exposed a deeper, recurring Giants problem: talent acquisition without a coherent plan to maximize it.
A Speed Weapon Used Like a Possession Receiver
Hyatt’s defining trait has always been speed. Not good speed — game-altering speed. When he played at Tennessee, he thrived primarily out of the slot (87% of snaps as a senior), where free releases and open space allowed him to burn safeties vertically and horizontally.
Rather than building packages that mirrored Hyatt’s collegiate success, New York consistently deployed him outside against press coverage — asking a lean, speed-based receiver to win physically at the line of scrimmage. After playing 88.3% of snaps out wide in 2023, that number rose to 89.6% in 2024, and remains at 81.4% of snaps this season.
The result was predictable: stalled routes, disrupted timing, and a receiver who looked increasingly uncomfortable within the structure of the offense. Hyatt has looked sloppy running his routes and has been known to drop many of the limited passes that now come in his direction.
Instead of accentuating Hyatt’s strengths, the Giants neutralized them. His yards per reception have dropped dramatically, his target share has shrunk, and his role has devolved into situational snaps rather than designed opportunities. For a player whose value is tied to defensive fear, that’s football malpractice.
This isn’t simply a matter of Hyatt “not developing.” It’s a case of development being misdirected from the start. Joe Schoen has seen several of his draft picks turn into busts, including Evan Neal and Deonte Banks, largely through mismanagement. Hyatt has next-level speed, but is hardly even on the field for the Giants, even with Malik Nabers tearing his ACL early in the season.
Scheme, Confidence, and a Vanishing Role
Hyatt’s decline can’t be separated from the Giants’ broader offensive instability. Quarterback turnover, conservative game plans, and a short-passing emphasis have left little room for vertical threats to breathe. But even within those constraints, other teams manufacture touches for speed players. The Giants didn’t.
As Hyatt’s usage dwindled, so did his margin for error. Mistakes — whether missed routes or timing breakdowns — became magnified, further eroding trust with quarterbacks and coaches. Instead of being schemed into confidence-building situations, Hyatt found himself fighting for relevance on a snap-to-snap basis.
That erosion matters. Speed receivers rely heavily on rhythm, timing, and the belief that the offense will actually call plays designed for them. Once that trust disappears, production usually follows it out the door. That has certainly happened for Hyatt.
The most troubling part? There’s little evidence the Giants ever adjusted course. Hyatt wasn’t re-centered in the slot. He wasn’t featured in motion-heavy concepts. He wasn’t given consistent chances to stress defenses deep. He simply faded — not because the skill vanished, but because the vision did.
What Hyatt Represents for the Giants
Jalin Hyatt may still have value elsewhere. In a system willing to lean into spacing, tempo, and vertical stress, his speed could resurface quickly. But in New York, his arc has become symbolic.
He represents a Big Blue offense that identifies talent but struggles to integrate it. A coaching staff that talks adaptability but too often asks players to conform instead. And a front office that gambled on upside without committing to the infrastructure required to unlock it.
Hyatt isn’t the first Giants player to stall out this way — and unless something changes, he won’t be the last. Deonte Banks and Evan Neal represent similar cases of mismanagement, with both players struggling to adjust to schemes that do not fit their talent or playing out of position.
At this point, the question isn’t whether Hyatt has underperformed. It’s whether the Giants ever truly put him in a position to succeed at all.
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