2023 NFL Draft Player Profiles: Tennessee WR Jalin Hyatt

From now until the 2023 NFL Draft takes place, we hope to scout and create profiles for as many prospects as possible, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and what they can bring to an NFL franchise. These players could be potential top 10 picks, all the way down to Day 3 selections and priority undrafted free agents. Today, I will be profiling a wide receiver who had a breakout year with Tennessee.

#11 Jalin Hyatt, WR, Tennessee (JR) — 6000, 185 lbs.

Combine/Pro Day

Measurements

The Good

— Very good speed, can take the top off the defense
— Good acceleration at the line of scrimmage
— Capable of running routes on all levels
— Good hands, plucks the ball cleanly
— Can create after the catch in space
— Nice hip drop to decelerate and work back to the ball
— Tracks the ball well on deep routes
— Solid blocker on the outside for teammates

The Bad

— Looks smaller than his school measurements, looks light
— Played primarily in the slot
— Physical defenders can easily get him off his routes
— Didn’t see a lot of reps versus Press coverage
— Rounded off his routes when working to the inside
— Doesn’t break tackles limiting yards after catch
— Not an effective blocker inside on the end of line
— Many of his long receptions were on blown coverages

Bio

— 2022 – 67 receptions, 1.267 yards, 18.9 YPR, 15 TD, 1 rush, 0 yards
— Career – 108 receptions, 1,769 yards, 16.4 YPR, 19 TD, 3 rushes, 13 yards
— 35 games, 14 starts
— 2022 Consensus and Unanimous First-Team All-American
— 2022 Biletnikoff Award Winner (first Volunteer to win this award)
— 2022 First Team All-SEC
— Birthday 09/24/2001 (age 21)
— Rated as a four-star prospect out of high school

Tape Breakdown

A huge statistical game against Alabama helped Hyatt become the first Tennessee Volunteer to win the Biletnikoff Award for the most outstanding receiver in college football. The list of former winners includes Jordan Addison, Ja’Marr Chase and former Steeler James Washington.

Playing primarily in the slot, he was used on all levels although with a somewhat limited route tree. On the short level, his main routes were the Screen, Out and Curl. On the intermediate and deep routes he often ran the Dig, Post, Drive and Go routes.

He has good acceleration off the line of scrimmage vs Off Man and Zone coverage and gets into his route quickly. He drops his hips really well to decelerate and on routes back toward the line of scrimmage and works back to the ball. Out of his breaks he shows good acceleration and gets to top speed quickly. He has very good speed to stress defenders and get over the top.

Vs Pittsburgh, from the near slot Hyatt (11) will show his hip drop and acceleration to get over the top and make the nice over the shoulder catch. He ended up out of bounds but it was a nice route and catch.

At LSU, from the slot at the top he uses straight up speed to run by the defender for a long touchdown.

He has good hands and adjusts to the ball well. With soft hands, he plucks the ball cleanly away from his body when stationary or on the move. He can create after the catch in space and has the speed to take it the distance. On deep ball the tracks the ball well to pull in over the shoulder catches.

Vs Florida, he’ll run a Drive route across the field and makes a nice grab on the run.

Vs Alabama, here is an Out and Up from the slot. He’ll turn his body outside and his head back toward the QB to get the DB to bite up before heading up field for his third of five TD’s in this game.

Touchdown number five against Alabama. The Post in the red zone; showing off his strong hands to pluck and tuck before taking the hit.

He is a willing blocker versus defensive backs to help his teammate. He uses a solid base and hand placement with good effort to sustain.

At LSU, here are couple clips showing him as a blocker. First he’ll motion to the right and sustain a block. Then from the left slot he positions himself well and shows good hand usage to wall off the defender.

With the majority of his routes being in the slot I didn’t see a lot of film on his release versus Press coverage. What I did see is physical defenders able to push him off of his route and limit him getting downfield when they got their hands on him. On inside breaking routes he rounded off his break and didn’t separate as much as you would expect with his speed. I didn’t see many contested catches and he doesn’t break tackles limiting his yards after the catch. They would occasionally ask him to block on the end of the line of scrimmage and he consistently gave up the inside gap to defenders. He had very few runs on jet sweeps and no experience in the return game.

Vs Alabama, from the slot he’ll run and in breaking route and really rounds it off, lacking that sharp break at the top. He was pretty consistent doing this on this type of route.

At LSU, he is on the left end of the lined of scrimmage and will allow the defender inside of him to make the tackle for a loss on third down.

Conclusion

Overall, Hyatt has very good speed, solid route running and good hands. He can create in space and can stack defensive backs on deeper routes. His routes tree was limited but should be able to handle all routes. When route running, his change of direction and hip drop are good and he has soft hands catching away from his body.

Areas to improve include sharpening his breaks on routes, adding play strength to combat physical defenders and work on improving breaking tackles to add yards after the catch.

Based on his play, physique and play strength he looks like a pure slot receiver. Physical DB’s would be able to reroute him if he lined up on the line of scrimmage consistently. I think the Steelers would rather have someone who could play inside and outside. I’m not trying to take anything away from him but a lot of his touchdowns I saw were against blown coverage leaving him wide open.

On the low end of the player comp John Brown comes to mind. On the high end he could be a Tyler Lockett. Both are of similar size with speed in the 4.3’s. Both of them incidentally were third round picks.

Projection: Day 2 – Late Second/Early Third

Depot Draft Grade:  7.8 Potential Starter/Good Backup

Games Watched: 2022 – At Pittsburgh, Vs Florida, At LSU, Vs Alabama, Vs Kentucky