Giants wide receiver Jalin Hyatt fits the Chiefs' trade mold under GM Brett Veach

The Kansas City Chiefs are 3-0 despite overcoming some injury issues. They were without key free agent Marquise Brown all season and are now expected to miss Isiah Pacheco for an extended period of time as well. The Chiefs are now in a position where they can rely on a 165-pound rookie (Xavier Worthy) and a veteran tight end in his 12th season in the league.

While the Chiefs have strength with players like Justin Watson, Skyy Moore, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman, only one of those players (Moore) is under contract for 2025. In fact, the Chiefs only have Rice, Worthy and Moore under contract at the position for 2025. We know the Chiefs love a small, shifty receiver who can separate. Enter New York Giants receiver Jalin Hyatt.

Hyatt is in his second year in the NFL after being drafted in the third round (pick 79) of the 2023 NFL Draft. He was Dane Brugler's third overall WR prospect in the 2023 draft (ahead of Rashee Rice) out of Tennessee. Hyatt, a former four-star recruit, received the prestigious Biletnikoff Award ahead of Marvin Harrison Jr. in 2022.

Hyatt passed for over 1,750 yards and 19 touchdowns in his three-year career at Tennessee. He has one dominant trait that has helped him thrive in Josh Heupel's offense: game-changing speed.

With all of his college success, it might be surprising that Hyatt was eliminated all the way to the third round. This was due to two things: its size and its route. At 6-0 and 176 pounds, Hyatt ranks in just the 5th percentile all-time in receiver weight and in the 35th percentile in height. Some teams simply won't draft players who are so undersized at the position.

The offense that Tennessee ran also played a specific role for Hyatt. All he ran was either a deep route (post or corner) or at the line of scrimmage. Route running and elite speed separated a player like Xavier Worthy from Hyatt in the following draft.

After an encouraging rookie season (23 catches for 373 yards) with 3 different starting quarterbacks, Hyatt went without a catch for all of 2024. He has only been targeted twice and is overtaken by rising star Malik Nabers, Wan'Dale Robinson (19%). , and Darius Slayton. There were also some rumors about Hyatt's frustration with his role in the offense during training camp – even going so far as him telling the coaches to “trade me” due to being exploited.

The Giants are far from contending for the division or the Super Bowl. Head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen are both likely fighting to keep their jobs this season. Betting the future of your career on Daniel Jones would be scary for anyone.

Hyatt still has two more years of control since he was drafted just last year, but we've seen the Giants trade a player to the Chiefs under the same circumstances before (Kadarius Toney). If the Giants don't use him, they might as well regain some much-needed draft value and move on.

Before the start of the 2024 season, signing Jalin Hyatt wouldn't have made sense for the Chiefs, despite their penchant for speed and explosive offense. The Chiefs don't rely on big receivers, but having a receiver room with Mecole Hardman, Xavier Worthy, Marquise Brown and Jalin Hyatt isn't realistic. This group is just so small and unnecessary that it wouldn't make any sense. However, since we assume we won't see Brown throughout the regular season, Hyatt makes a lot more sense.

There have already been concerns about Worthy's role in the offense through three games. Most of this has to do with the fact that he doesn't score on big plays down the field and is primarily used on plays at the line of scrimmage. That's partly because of the importance of creating space for players like Rashee Rice, Travis Kelce and also the running game. Unlike Marquez Valdez-Scantling, Worth is respected offside, but it feels like he's wasting his role.

Hyatt could be the vertical stretch piece of the offense and give Worthy the opportunity to run a variety of other routes. He's also an interesting threat in screen play, with both he and Worthy at game-breaking speed. Hyatt only took 11% of his snaps from the slot in 2023, meaning he wouldn't be in slot snaps for either Rashee Rice or Xavier Worthy.

Hyatt makes sense in the present, but also for the future. While still a cost-controlled player, he can remain the potent threat this offense needs. Even with Marquise Brown in Kansas City this year, the goal was for Worthy to become a similar type of player who could run a full route tree and still stretch the field.

As with any trade, it depends on the cost of acquiring the player. Given that he was selected in the third round and will be more than a year into his NFL career, it's safe to assume the Chiefs could pass up a high-end Day 3 pick for Hyatt. The Chiefs have an additional third-round pick from the L'Jarius Sneed trade, which would potentially allow them to move on from their fourth-round pick if needed.

Hyatt may not be much more than a small deep threat and guard option, or perhaps he can thrive as a route runner in an offense that utilizes separation. His size limitations will always be a part of his profile, but that hasn't stopped the Chiefs from getting faster. The Chiefs seem to have a penchant for acquiring former Giants receivers, and Hyatt could be the next part of that story.