Giants’ Brian Daboll explains Jalin Hyatt’s frustrating lack of use

The New York Giants promised to push the ball downfield more in 2024 now that they have a cadre of young, fleet wide receivers.

That didn’t happen in the season opener on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. Giants quarterback Daniel Jones took little to no deep shots down the field. The longest completions on the day were a pair of 25-yarders to rookie Malik Nabers.

One player we thought we might see more of is second-year wideout Jalin Hyatt, but he was only on the field for 19 snaps and was targeted only once.

On Monday, head coach Brian Daboll was questioned why Hyatt wasn’t used more often in the 28-6 loss to Minnesota.

“Yeah, he’s our third/fourth receiver,” Daboll told reporters. “So, you play with Nabers and Wan’Dale (Robinson) is in the slot. And (Darius) Slayton played the majority of the snaps ahead of Hyatt. We have certain plays and roles for Jalin. And that could change week to week, but this week that’s what it was.”

Hyatt is the fastest of all the Giants’ wideouts. Last year in training camp he was clocked at an incredible 24 MPH, a speed matched only by Miami Dolphins superstar Tyreek Hill.

It’s clear that Daboll does not totally trust Hyatt and will only use him in certain matchups.

Hyatt was a starter for most of training camp and he and Nabers were on the other end of many a long pass from Jones this summer.

It’s a very curious decision by Daboll to shelve his fastest receiver in a game where they are down by three scores.

Perhaps that will change as Slayton was put into concussion protocol on Monday. That could force Daboll to move Hyatt up the depth chart.