One of the popular New York Giants camp narratives this spring centered around wide receiver Jalin Hyatt.
The former third-round talent displayed immediate chemistry with new quarterback Russell Wilson throughout OTAs, and he also confirmed that he bulked up a bit over the offseason.
As much as the Giants community wants to believe that Hyatt will finally put it all together in 2025, however, he’s started fast and fizzled out in the past. And some are skeptical that this will happen again as his third NFL training camp gets underway next week.
“Forgive me for not getting caught up in the Hyatt hype train,” The Athletic’s Dan Duggan wrote candidly on July 9. “We heard similar talk about him bulking up last offseason. Then he was given every opportunity to claim the No. 2 receiver job in training camp and failed to take advantage.”
“He finished his second season with just eight catches for 62 yards despite appearing in 16 games,” the beat writer continued. “It’s hard to see where Hyatt’s snaps will come from this season with [Malik] Nabers entrenched as the No. 1 option and the team committing to [Darius] Slayton as the No. 2 receiver. The best-case scenario for Hyatt seems like a repeat of his rookie season when he sprinkled in a few deep catches. He should at least be able to replicate that with Wilson launching moon balls.”
Duggan concluded by referencing Hyatt’s claim that he added 25 pounds of good weight this offseason, noting that “it would be easier to get excited about that type of weight gain if he didn’t finish the spring on the sideline with an apparent hamstring injury.”
Will Giants WR Jalin Hyatt Be Able to Break Through at Training Camp?
As we all know by now, performances at OTAs and minicamp don’t mean much compared to training camp.
Everything changes once the pads go on, and the wide receiver position is no different. Whether it’s catching a high pass up over your head with pads restricting a player’s reach, or the mental and physical aspect of knowing a hit could be coming, both during and just after the catch.
Will Hyatt continue his red-hot offseason with those new factors at play? That will be the real test.
Hyatt has looked good at OTAs before. He’s even flashed during the preseason and the regular season. But he’s yet to show consistency at the NFL level.
Even if it’s only one month of practice, Hyatt must finally do that throughout training camp if he wants to be taken seriously by the Giants’ coaching staff and the fans.
‘Most Surprising’ Giants Move Could Prove Duggan Right About Hyatt
Jalin Hyatt’s best chance at an ascension would have come if the Giants trusted him enough to let Slayton walk in free agency. But the opposite ended up occurring, showing just how little Big Blue had faith that Hyatt would turn things around.
“Slayton enters his seventh season with more security than ever before in his career,” Duggan relayed within the same piece.
Adding: “The Giants rewarded Slayton with a three-year, $39 million contract in the team’s most surprising move of the offseason. All signs pointed to Slayton’s departure after a tumultuous stretch with this regime. It began in 2022 with Slayton being forced to take a pay cut after getting buried on the depth chart and continued with the team declining to give him a raise last offseason.”
Then, the G-Men pulled off the unexpected, reuniting with their veteran wideout in a deal that buried Hyatt on the depth chart again.
“Slayton’s reliability as a field-stretching No. 2 option led to him landing the fourth-richest wide receiver contract in free agency,” Duggan finally wrote. The key word being “reliability.”
Hyatt has not yet figured out that trait. But he’ll need to, and fast.
