Giants rookie has perfect chance to enact revenge on Cowboys
By John Buhler
Jalin Hyatt wants revenge after the Dallas Cowboys overlooked him, as the Tennessee Volunteers star now plays for the division rival New York Giants.
The Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants will see firsthand if former Tennessee star wide receiver Jalin Hyatt can run routes or not.
Despite winning the Biletnikoff during his final year in Knoxville, there are reasons why he, quarterback Hendon Hooker and fellow wide receiver Cedric Tillman were not first-round picks. The Vols’ offense was varying shades of explosive last year, but the gimmicky Air Raid nature of Josh Heupel’s scheme may not translate to the NFL. Hyatt is looking to prove his doubters wrong.
In the Cowboys’ docuseries about the 2023 NFL Draft, here is a clip of Hyatt’s less-than-stellar route-running being talked about by a Dallas receivers coach to his face. He didn’t like that at all!
Besides getting to play the Cowboys twice annually now going forward, the best thing to happen to Hyatt is to land on Brian Daboll’s NFC East-contending squad in New York. He knows offense!
Jalin Hyatt is looking to prove the Dallas Cowboys wrong on the New York Giants
I follow SEC football closer than anything, so hear me out on this. Hyatt is immensely talented, but where he landed mattered! Dallas didn’t need another wide receiver in this draft, not to the degree that New York did after mysteriously bailing on Kadarius Toney, who did some good things for the Kansas City Chiefs late last season. Patience is a virtue, but that is always easier said than done…
It is all going to come down to coaching for marquee players coming out of Heupel’s Tennessee offense. Fortunately for Hyatt, he now aligns himself with the best offensive coordinator to get his own team since arguably Kyle Shanahan. He has been calling plays at a high level for a very long time. There is no coincidence that Josh Allen’s play got sloppier in the season after he left Buffalo.
Overall, we are going to need to see a more robust route tree out of Hyatt for him to reach his potential at the NFL level. He may have three-to-four strong stems branching out from it, but it is imperative to grow in this department because NFL cornerbacks and safeties don’t give you much wiggle room to work with. It is about repetition, timing and chemistry with the team’s quarterback.
While Daniel Jones leaves a lot to be desired, he has at least shown he is coachable. That really is the biggest key with any offensive player coming to New York. Daboll knows more than you, so just listen to him, man. They may not ever get to the Super Bowl with this core, but New York can sustain its winning ways with Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen remaining in lock step here.
How Hyatt goes about developing and refining his route tree should tell the tale of his NFL career.