The New York Giants promised a Ferrari when they traded up to draft Jalin Hyatt in 2023, but three years later, that high-performance machine is rusting in the garage while the offense sputters.
The disintegration of the former Biletnikoff Award winner from a deep-ball assassin into a roster afterthought isn’t just a failure of player development; it is an indictment of a front office that fundamentally misunderstood the asset they acquired. What was supposed to be the explosive vertical element that unlocked the Giants’ passing attack has officially morphed into a cautionary tale of mismanagement and regression that haunts General Manager Joe Schoen.
When Hyatt tore up the SEC at Tennessee, he did it as a specialized weapon in Josh Heupel’s veer-and-shoot offense, a system designed to manufacture free releases by deploying him primarily from the slot.
In his final collegiate season, Hyatt operated from the slot on roughly 87% of his snaps, allowing him to use his elite speed to torch safeties without getting jammed at the line of scrimmage. The Giants looked at that tape, drafted him, and then proceeded to do the exact opposite, inexplicably forcing him to play the vast majority of his snaps as a perimeter receiver where physical corners could bully him.
The data confirms this tactical malpractice, as the Giants have stubbornly refused to utilize Hyatt in the role that made him famous.
In 2023, his rookie season, he played 88.3% of his snaps out wide; in 2024, that number climbed to 89.6%, and even in 2025, despite the obvious struggles, he remains stuck on the boundary for 81.4% of his reps. They took a player who needed space to accelerate and parked him in the one place on the field where space is non-existent, effectively clipping the wings of their fastest bird.
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The Numbers Scream Regression
While the coaching staff deserves plenty of blame, the plummeting production suggests that Hyatt’s confidence has been completely shattered by the lack of success. His efficiency has fallen off a cliff since his rookie year, where he flashed potential with 16.2 yards per reception on 373 yards. By 2025, that dynamic playmaker has vanished, replaced by a timid route runner averaging a pitiful 7.0 yards per catch on just five receptions all season.
The most damning metric isn’t the lack of volume; it is the lack of reliability when the ball actually comes his way. Hyatt posted a 16.7% drop rate in 2025, continuing a troubling trend of concentration lapses that have plagued him since arriving in East Rutherford. His offensive PFF grade has nosedived from a passable 59.7 as a rookie to a disastrous 46.5, signaling that he is not just failing to make plays—he is actively hurting the offense when he is on the field.
Tim Kelly Exposes the Disconnect
The issues run deeper than just dropped passes and bad scheme fits; there is a fundamental breakdown in trust between Hyatt and his quarterbacks. Giants interim offensive coordinator Tim Kelly didn’t mince words when addressing the situation, admitting, “There’s been some communication issues and he’s kind of been right there in the center of them”. This isn’t just “coach speak”—it is a direct call-out of a third-year player who is still struggling with the basics of being on time and in the right spot.
We have seen this play out in real-time, with Hyatt frequently stopping routes prematurely or drifting into coverage, leading to interceptions that make his quarterbacks look incompetent. When you combine physical limitations against press coverage with mental errors that lead to turnovers, you get a player who simply cannot be trusted on Sundays. It is a brutal cycle: the coaches don’t trust him so he doesn’t play, and when he does play, he presses so hard that he makes catastrophic mistakes.
Looking Ahead: A Clean Break is Necessary
Joe Schoen had opportunities to trade Hyatt when there was still a shimmer of “potential” attached to his name, but holding onto him has turned a depreciating asset into a sunk cost. The Giants need to accept that the Jalin Hyatt experiment is a failure in New York, partially due to their own stubborn usage and partially due to the player’s inability to adapt. A change of scenery is the only mercy left for a player who was once the most electrifying weapon in college football, because right now, he is just a ghost in a Giants uniform.