Leading up to the 2023 NFL draft, an exchange between Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt and Dallas Cowboys wide receivers coach Robert Prince went viral.
In the clip, Prince appeared to press Hyatt about his route-running ability, implying he’s a single-skill player. As you know by now, Hyatt clapped back a bit, saying he is entirely capable of running the full route tree.
But Prince wasn’t alone. There were a number of critics around the NFL sphere who questioned whether or not Hyatt was simply a system receiver. The thought was that the Vols’ offense was ideally tuned to get the most out of Hyatt and his speed and that it may not translate to the NFL.
The New York Giants didn’t see things the same way and traded up in Round 3 of the draft to select Hyatt.
The questions didn’t stop, however. During several of his early press conference, Hyatt was pressed about his route-running ability and to his credit, he handled it all like a seasoned veteran.
“People are always going to say things. I think that’s what I learned the most,” Hyatt said in response to the criticism that he ‘can’t run the route tree’ at the pro level.
“I’m here now and I’m here with the Giants, and the draft process and everything else is out of the way. I’m here, and my only focus now is getting better, learning my new teammates, learning the coaching staff here, learning the playbook and just going out there when my opportunity presents itself, and that’s my goal and that’s what I want to do.”
Giants head coach Brian Daboll also dismissed the criticism.
“I’m good with Jalin,” Daboll said during rookie minicamp. “Again, yeah, he’s been asked to do certain things. He’s had a couple different coaches in college. Again, day one out here, did everything we asked him to do, and each day we’ll build off that.”
But at least one person has heard enough.
On Monday, retired NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson exploded on Twitter and offered an emphatic defense of Hyatt. He also took aim at several members of the media who had asked the rookie about his route-running ability.
“These questions are insulting and outright dumb,” Johnson tweeted. “He’s a receiver with the ability to run every route if you [expletive] actually watched him play. Can someone get me the names of these so-called reporters who obviously didn’t do their got damn homework, please?”
Although Johnson offered no follow-up, he’s clearly had it with the almost obsessive criticism of Hyatt and his ability.
However, to be fair to the Giants beat reporters, their questions largely stemmed from outside commentary and, more specifically, the viral exchange between Hyatt and Prince.
