Jalin Hyatt agrees with Brian Daboll’s ‘progression’ plan toward larger Giants role

Jalin Hyatt has impressive patience for a receiver with 4.4 speed.

The Giants’ rookie receiver isn’t frustrated about getting only 16 snaps against the San Francisco 49ers. On the contrary, he has bought into what Brian Daboll told him at the start of the year.

“He told me it was going to be a progression, and I totally agree with him,” Hyatt said Tuesday with a smile. “I have full trust in [Daboll].”

Hyatt, who turned 22 years old on Monday, clearly needs to be on the field more for the Giants regardless.

He made two of the biggest plays in the Giants’ 31-28 comeback against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2 despite playing only 14 snaps in that game.

The first was a 58-yard bomb to start the second half, topping out at 20.48 miles per hour, per NFL NextGen Stats. The second was a 31-yard corner route up the left sideline in the fourth quarter. Both catches set up Giants touchdowns.

His playmaking didn’t earn Hyatt a much bigger role in Santa Clara, however. He was on the field for only 32% of the offense’s snaps after playing 21% in Arizona.

The slight uptick wasn’t compensatory with the value he’d provided in the desert.

“I think it goes back to who DJ’s comfortable with and what plays we’re running,” Hyatt said, referring to quarterback Daniel Jones’ chemistry with players like Darius Slayton, Isaiah Hodgins and Parris Campbell.

Hyatt said a host of variables contribute to playing time decisions.

He admitted he needs to continue developing his own “chemistry” with Jones. He is constantly observing the veterans to pick up on ways to be reliable.

The 49ers’ top NFL defense, especially up front on their line, impacted how Daboll and Mike Kafka called that game and deployed personnel.

Hyatt also said Daboll is trying to acclimate his young players to the grind of a long NFL season. That means keeping a weapon like Hyatt fresh enough to do damage late in the year when, as a college player at Tennessee, his seasons would have already been over.

“I think with [Daboll], for rookies, it’s a long year,” Hyatt said. “I’m used to 12 games in college and being done. So it’s making sure I’m staying healthy and able to contribute throughout the season.”

Hyatt also has to make some improvements himself, as explosive as he is. He’s confident in his abilities, but he isn’t cocky to the point that he thinks he has this all figured out, either.

Take last Thursday’s second quarter at San Francisco, for example:

Hyatt was wide open on a deep corner route to the left sideline. Pressure from the 49ers’ defensive line prevented Jones from making the throw and flushed the Giants’ QB out of the pocket.

At that point, Hyatt should have come back to the ball. Instead, he drifted, and Jones took a huge hit from Dre Greenlaw as he tossed an incompletion away.

“I should have come back to the ball,” Hyatt admitted Tuesday. “I went upfield because I saw [Darius Slayton] running underneath in the middle. But instead of already being open and continuing to run deep, I should have come back and gotten an easy completion.”

It would have been an easy 25-yard completion, at that. These are the “scramble rules” that the Giants work on with their receivers. Hyatt didn’t use them there. He’ll learn.

By his own admission, Hyatt didn’t pay enough attention to detail in his film study prior to the 40-0 Week 1 blowout loss to the Dallas Cowboys, either.

He watched film, but he didn’t zero in on how certain Cowboys corners would play him and on what their tendencies reveal about potential opportunities to exploit them.

So he changed up his whole approach and focused on the “little things in film study going into the Cardinals game.”

“I studied the corners, the safeties, and I imagined myself making those plays in the actual game,” Hyatt said. For a confident player, visualization helped him follow through.

Hyatt also said it takes time to fully grasp Daboll’s “complex offense,” echoing every other player’s review of the system the past year-plus.

The Giants’ head coach expects his receivers to know every receiver position’s responsibility on every play, from both outside receivers to the slot, on top of the numerous formations and packages Daboll and Kafka employ to disguise their calls.

“That’s what’s kind of been difficult,” Hyatt said.

Receivers coach Mike Groh and Hyatt drill 1-on-1 daily in the mornings, though, to hammer home those responsibilities and make sure Hyatt feels comfortable in different spots.

Hyatt said it’s his own job to stay consistent and “regular” to continue earning Jones’ trust.

He also recognizes the value of Daboll’s system, which uses alignments pre-snap to identify coverages, confuse defenses and exploit defensive weaknesses.

“I love that dude,” Hyatt said of Daboll. “He’s a mastermind.”

He said, “Whenever I have opportunities, it’s my job to go and make plays.” That’s what it comes down to for him.

Still, for an offense as anemic as the Giants’, it’s difficult to stomach seeing Hyatt on the sidelines. Even if he still has a lot to learn, at this point it’s probably worth letting this eager speedster learn it on the fly.