Leading up to the 2023 NFL draft, questions arose about wide receiver Jalin Hyatt and his ability to run a full route tree.
Many postulated that the offensive system at Tennessee hid his deficiencies, which played out during a pre-draft exchange between Hyatt and Dallas Cowboys wide receivers coach Robert Prince.
The clip went viral.
During the pre-Draft process, #Cowboys WRs coach doubted Jalin Hyatt's ability to run routes, Hyatt called him out on it right away.
Fast forward to today, Hyatt was drafted by the #Giants and gets to beat the Dallas coaches who doubted him twice a yearpic.twitter.com/grRK00HgNf
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 1, 2023
The New York Giants didn’t share those same concerns and traded up in Round 3 of the 2023 NFL draft to select Hyatt.
Since then, Hyatt has been peppered with questions about that exchange and his potential limitations, but he has handled it all with professionalism and grace. He deals with the media like a seasoned veteran.
“I came from Tennessee’s offense, which I had fun in, learned a lot of new things in that offense and now coming into this offense learning more new things. But at the end of the day I’m a football player. I can play any offense and I’m just glad I’m here,” Hyatt said during rookie minicamp.
“People are always going to say things. I think that’s what I learned the most. 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.”
And that’s exactly what Hyatt did over the two-day minicamp despite being somewhat limited (not injury-related). And in the mind of head coach Brian Daboll, he saw nothing that raised any red flags about Hyatt’s ability to run a full route tree.
“I’m good with Jalin,” Daboll said on Saturday when asked about Hyatt’s route running. “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.”
Hyatt obviously needs to refine his game, as do all rookies, but neither he nor the Giants coaching staff seem overly concerned with his ability to run a full route tree.
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