Wide Receiver Jalin Hyatt
Q. When you left here in January, you kind of had a list of things you wanted to improve on. Over the last couple weeks on the field, have you seen some of the things that you said, check this, check that?
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, just being more comfortable. You know, trusting my teammates, trusting in myself this off-season, and I'm proud of what I've done so far.
But got to keep going.
Q. What did you do throughout the off-season in terms of did you train anywhere special or with anybody special?
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, I took some trips to Houston. Worked with my receiver coach and stayed here most of the time working with DJ trying to get the rhythm down with him.
But at the same time, it's a steppingstone. Every day, just trying to get better, trying to push what I want to get to as far as my goals. Stacking days.
Q. Who's the receivers coach?
JALIN HYATT: Delfonte (Diamond).
Q. Seems like last year was a lot of little knots, bumps and bruises. Was it important for you to sort of get bigger, more physical? How did that rank on your list?
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, I think that was one of the things I wanted to improve on. Talking to coach Dabs and Coach Groh, just getting bigger. Playing on the outside, you're going to get more press coverage and more body-to-body catches.
So just getting bigger, getting strong with my catch point, getting stronger with my hands, and so far everything is working so far.
Q. Put on weight?
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, I have so far.
Q. How much?
JALIN HYATT: Can't say it yet.
Q. A lot?
JALIN HYATT: Can't say it yet.
Q. Significant?
JALIN HYATT: Can't say it.
Q. Are you slower?
JALIN HYATT: Nah, nah, that speed didn't go anywhere.
Q. Coach Groh says you flexed in front of him.
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, I did. I did.
Q. Once?
JALIN HYATT: Multiple times. Multiple times. He always sees me when I'm in the weight room. I'm all energetic and ready to go. I'm glad to have Coach Groh as my receiver coach. Taught me a lot of things. Been in the league for a while, knows a lot of things, so it's just a blessing to be coached by him.
Q. So is your flexing now more impressive than last year as a rookie?
JALIN HYATT: Oh, yeah. Way, way better. Way better.
Q. Way more?
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, way better.
Q. And then how does that help you? On the beach it helps you.
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, it does. But it just brings confidence. Brings confidence to myself when I'm on the field knowing I can do it. You know, I think it definitely helped my confidence. Helped me improve my game in certain areas as far as this is a hard league; most of your catches are going to be body to body. That's one thing I learned my first year.
Q. When you look at this whole unit, is there an excitement around the wide receiver corps going into this year that maybe wasn't there last year?
JALIN HYATT: It's a lot of excitement. Bringing in Malik Nabers, elite guy. He is one of my good friends. Talked to him before the draft, before we got him. Everything he did at LSU, man, it's elite.
When he got here he's still the same guy. Not only that, brought Slay back, one of our leading receivers, and still got Wan'Dale. Brings confidence to the whole room. We're ready to throw it, and Dabs can see it.
I think our receiver room, we're stacked and we're ready to prove what we can do.
Q. You set really high goals last year; you wanted to be offensive rookie of the year.
JALIN HYATT: Yeah.
Q. There were obviously a lot of external factors around that. Will you still set really high goals?
JALIN HYATT: Always, man, always. New year, new opportunities, new goals. You know, for me, I always set high expectations. Just looking our team, looking at what we got, we have a good chance to do whatever we want to do.
For goals, I just want as a team goal. We have a playoff team and that's what we want to do and that's our focus. We're going to get there.
Q. What did you think of Malik's practice today in particular?
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, man, he looked good. He looked good. I have no worries about him. Just seeing how he plays, watching his film, you know he's going to be elite.
Q. What do you think is unique about him?
JALIN HYATT: I'll just say how explosive he is at his weight; the way he catches the ball; what he does after the catch. The run after catch, all of that is elite.
When you bring that to us and the Giants and with Coach Dabs, we can do a lot of things with him. Put him everywhere. That's one thing about him. You can put him everywhere, outside and inside, slot, running back, whatever you want to do. That's the type of receiver he is, and we're going to make sure we get to the ball to him.
Q. How did you already have a relationship with him?
JALIN HYATT: I think it's an SEC thing. Played against him, and when he was going through the draft process he hit my phone just asking about the Giants, asking about the organization.
You know, those are questions I asked when I was being drafted, too. He loves the team and he's a good guy. Just when he got here, he's already in film, he's already learning plays quicker than I thought.
I'm very proud of what he's done so far.
Q. How did you know Malik?
JALIN HYATT: Yeah, one of those things. When we played LSU and we'll say what's up, what's up, whatever it is. We're always so busy as far as schedule and everything, it wasn't anything where we were hanging out or anything.
Q. How did you link up then?
JALIN HYATT: I just knew him. I'm talking about this is before --
Q. You said you talked to him before he got here, right?
JALIN HYATT: Talked to him. I didn't see him. Just texting.
Q. Did you like your rookie year?
JALIN HYATT: You know, as far as playing, you know, I enjoyed it. It's a blessing to be here. A lot of improvement to go. You know, we set high expectations for this team and last year, that wasn't what we wanted. I don't think anybody wanted that.
Q. For you though?
JALIN HYATT: For myself, I always shoot for the highest thing. Disappointing for my rookie year.
Q. What were some of the things you learned from Steve Smith when he was here last week?
JALIN HYATT: Being more aggressive. That's the type of receiver he is. Being more aggressive at the press point. He was teaching me a lot of little things that he has done when he was in the league. Obviously he is one of the best receivers that played this game.
So just having him out here for a couple days and hearing what he had to say, you know, film, when he was out here on the field, man, helped me a lot. I appreciate it.
Q. Does a guy like Malik make life easier for the other receivers in the sense he may get the doubles?
JALIN HYATT: Oh, yeah, it makes everything easy. Who you going to double, you know what I mean? You got Leek on one side, you got myself on the other, you've got Wan'Dale, you've got Slay. That's how we're looking at it. We're ready to go.
I think last year we didn't hit our expectation, and as receivers, we've got to play better. Starts this year, so...
Q. You didn't get a lot of work with Daniel Jones because of his injury last year. How was the conversation headed into this season and that chemistry?
JALIN HYATT: That's the biggest thing that I think myself I had to work on. Last year I didn't really spend a lot time as far as reps with him. I started with the threes when I got here, so kind of got reps just a little bit in training camp.
The season hit and he gets hurt, so we really never had that time to really learn each other. I think this off-season is the biggest thing. I've been with him when he was doing his rehab, staying up here with him, learning how he sees the game, what he sees on the field, and trying to come out and execute.
I think that's the biggest thing I want to do is just stay around him, listen to him, so when we get out there it's comfortable.
Q. What stood out about how he's tackled his rehab?
JALIN HYATT: Man, he's probably the biggest work ethic guy I know. He is the first guy in the building. I don't even know what time he gets here, maybe 5:30. He stays here forever and he is the last guy to leave. That's what you want in a quarterback.
When your quarterback comes in here, he's the first guy in the building, he's the last guy out, it just shows how much he respects this, how much he respects this team, and how much he wants to improve and do whatever he has to do. We have so much confidence in him. So much faith in him.
He's out there throwing in 7-on-7s and he looks good. Can't wait to have him back in team activities and for training camp. We're all going to be excited.
