NFL executive says former Vols WR Jalin Hyatt is 'naive'
There's been plenty of debate this offseason about whether or not former Tennessee Vols wide receiver Jalin Hyatt will have a successful NFL career. Hyatt, a third-round selection by the New York Giants in last month's draft, has seen his route-running abilities questioned nonstop this offseason. Hyatt played in a unique offense at Tennessee that […]
There's been plenty of debate this offseason about whether or not former Tennessee Vols wide receiver Jalin Hyatt will have a successful NFL career.
Hyatt, a third-round selection by the New York Giants in last month's draft, has seen his route-running abilities questioned nonstop this offseason. Hyatt played in a unique offense at Tennessee that didn't utilize a lot of traditional routes, but that's not the only reason his route-running abilities have been questioned.
According to The Athletic's Dan Duggan, Hyatt's "subpar times" in the three-cone drill and short shuttle at UT's Pro Day "amplified concerns that he lacks the agility to develop into a well-rounded route runner".
Hyatt's route-running is far from the only concern that NFL executives and coaches had about the former Vol ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft.
At least one executive feels Hyatt is "naive" while an NFL assistant coach says Hyatt has some "arrogance" about him.
“Questions are going to be the strength, and the kid is interesting," said an anonymous executive to The Athletic this week. "He’s just young, little squirrelly, maybe a little naïve. I don’t know if he totally gets it as far as being a pro.”
“He was a one-year producer for a reason,” added the executive. “He struggled to make an impact until this last season.”
According to The Athletic, Hyatt's attitude rubbed some folks the wrong way ahead of the draft.
From The Athletic: “There’s a lot of people who don’t think the guy is a great route runner,” the coach said. “There’s a lot of people who are kind of up and down on him.”
Hyatt is unapologetically confident. He had a viral interaction at Tennessee’s pro day when he pushed back at the implication from Cowboys wide receivers coach Robert Prince that speed is his skill set. Hyatt’s attitude rubbed some people wrong in the pre-draft process.
“He’s got some arrogance to him, like ‘I’ve got all the answers,’” the coach said.
Hyatt's dealt with a significant amount of criticism already, so these comments shouldn't have a big impact on him. After all, the draft process is over and Hyatt has a home with the Giants.
And speaking of the Giants, they liked Hyatt enough to trade up for him. So it's safe to say they didn't have any personality concerns about the former Vol.
As for the comment about Hyatt's arrogance?
Well, I've yet to see a wide receiver in the NFL have success that wasn't extremely confident.
So far, Hyatt has handled the media as well as any rookie could (and he always handled the media well during his time at Tennessee). If his confidence comes off as arrogance, then so be it. If anything, the "arrogance" is likely the result of Hyatt feeling like he constantly has to prove himself to the media/NFL teams despite setting records at Tennessee and winning the Biletnikoff Award. I'm not sure what else the kid could've done to prove himself in college. But if there's a list of things he could've done better, it's extremely short.
