Giants WR Jalin Hyatt is staying ready while he tries to adjust to the waiting game
Giants wide receiver Jalin Hyatt waves to fans before a game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 8. Credit: AP/Pamela Smith
Jalin Hyatt is like everyone else in the Giants organization when it comes to monitoring the progress Malik Nabers makes or doesn’t make through the concussion protocol this week. He’s hoping for the best.
“I’ll be praying for him,” Hyatt said on Wednesday. “Hopefully he’s alright. I saw him today. It looks like he’s in good spirits.”
There will be a point, though, where Hyatt’s interests diverge from just about anyone else’s in the building. Hyatt would be the guy most likely asked to replace the rookie sensation if he is unable to play on Sunday in Seattle. It would give Hyatt his first true opportunity to make an impact on a game this season after four contests in which he has been relegated to a seldom-used and rarely-targeted receiver.
To be very clear, Hyatt is not rooting for that.
But he is preparing for it.
That process began in Wednesday’s practice where Hyatt took reps with the starting offense. It’s the same thing he did two weeks ago when Darius Slayton was working through his concussion. In that case, Slayton was cleared and returned to play against the Browns and Hyatt was pushed back to the bench, playing a season-low 10 offensive snaps. He wound up getting the start in Cleveland – he laughed when it was noted that the team is 1-0 with him in the opening lineup and 0-3 without him there – but that was about it.
Now he is riding that yo-yo once more, unsure if he will be spinning up or down come Sunday.
“You go through the week of getting the reps, getting the reps, and one of your guys comes back healthy and they go with him, that’s how it is,” Hyatt said. “I think for me it’s about taking advantage of every day, taking advantage of every practice. Whether I am going to play or not, who knows, but for me it is taking advantage because when my name is called I have to be ready.”
Hyatt gave the old line about the NFL being a “next-man-up” league. He just wasn’t expecting to be the next man at this point in the season. He was counting on being closer to The Man. Throughout training camp he was with the first unit and then when the regular season rolled around his place on the depth chart was taken over by Slayton.
“I’m a competitor,” Hyatt said. “I want to be out there.”
For now, he isn’t. He hasn’t caught a pass this year on four chances. He’s played 51 offensive snaps, a little over 19% of the team’s total. Only three offensive players have been on the field less than him: RB Eric Gray (15), FB Jakob Johnson (12) and WR Bryce Ford-Wheaton (1). Adding in special teams snaps, though, only Gray has played less overall.
Hyatt has been coming to terms with this new role, an adjustment surely as difficult as fine-tuning routes and learning a playbook considering his contributions as a rookie last season (23 catches, 373 yards). He’s had some guidance through it from Slayton, the guy who, ironically, has kept him on the sideline.
Slayton’s career with the Giants has seen similar ups and downs and he’s shared that with Hyatt.
“Your lack of playing or involvement at times is not always an indictment on you,” Slayton said he’s told Hyatt. “Sometimes it's just the situation you're in, the people you're around. Obviously Jalin knows he's a talented player. He knows he can help his team win. And we know he's a talented player. We know he can help this team win. But it's a long year. We've only played four games. The kind of dark reality of the NFL, sooner or later, somebody's going to get hurt. Stuff happens. In one way, shape, or form, this opportunity will come.”
Nabers leads not only the team but the league in receptions (35) and targets (51) so he’s become a humongous part of the Giants’ identity in a very short period of time. Head coach Brian Daboll said somewhat ominously that Nabers is “in the early stages” of the protocol on Wednesday despite being nearly a week removed from the injury that happened late in last Thursday’s loss to Dallas. There still could be time for him to clear the steps to return before the team leaves for Seattle on Saturday but he’d have to be at least a partial participant on Thursday for that to happen. Nabers did not practice at all on Wednesday and was not seen on the field during the portion of the workout open to the media.
“There's no doubt he's been a big part of our offense so far and someone who we've counted on in a lot of spots,” quarterback Daniel Jones said of Nabers. “So, it'll change a little bit (if he can’t play). But the guys we got out there, we have a lot of confidence in them winning their matchups and getting open.”
Hyatt, Jones said, is definitely one of those guys despite all statistical indications to the contrary.
“He's a pro, he's a mature guy,” Jones said. “You see it out at practice. He's continued to show up and make a lot of plays. I know it's frustrating for a guy not to get those opportunities on Sunday, but I thought he's handled it well. I have a ton of confidence in him out there making plays, changing the game with his speed and ability to get behind the defense.”
Hyatt said he remains confident that at some point this season he’ll be in a position to make plays for the Giants and help the team win.
“It’s a long season,” he said. “I didn’t get the start that I wanted. But it’s all about who (Daboll) trusts. What I’m trying to work on right now is getting his full trust. For me it’s taking advantage of the opportunities. When they come I have to be ready.”
That’s the job once again, this week and every week, to be ready… whether he ultimately is needed or not.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.