NEW ORLEANS – As a rookie, New York Giants wide receiver Jalin Hyatt experienced a subpar season after the team had just come off a run that involved the team’s first playoff win since they won Super Bowl XLVI.
What transpired this past regular season was even worse.
A 3-14 record befell the Giants, who cut ties with their quarterback, Daniel Jones, who was signed to a four-year, $160 million contract extension in the prior offseason.
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Meanwhile, Saquon Barkley, who the Giants slapped with a franchise tag instead of extending, chose the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency this past offseason and led the league in rushing, while helping his team reach Super Bowl LIX this week.
So Hyatt, making his way down to New Orleans to represent World of Hyatt on Radio Row, knows 2024 was a year not to write home about. However, he had nothing but an optimistic view going into next year.
“Obviously, not what we want as a team, but I think for us, we’ve just got to keep building,” he told Fox News Digital. “We have great players on our team, and hopefully we can bring in the right guys next year to help us win. I have full faith in this team, so we’ll see what we can do.”
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Hyatt knows the only way forward after a bad season is to take that first step in the right direction.
Personally, he’s coming off a down year after showing flashes in his rookie campaign. With the Giants struggling heavily on offense, Hyatt’s role diminished, especially with the emergence of first-round pick Malik Nabers added to the mix of receiver talent. Hyatt played only 33% of offensive snaps in 2024 compared to 51% in his rookie year.
Hyatt will be heading to Dallas after his appearance in the Big Easy to begin his offseason training with the idea of competing for a top receiver position in year 3 with New York.
“Knowing that I’m going to play on the outside more than I thought, I gotta continue to keep getting stronger,” he said about his goals for the offseason. “For me, it’s just keep developing – working on catches, working on routes, working on things I know I need to work on and be ready for next year.”
And moving on for the Giants also includes looking ahead to a new quarterback throwing him footballs. While there are free-agent options out there, the NFL Draft is where many believe the Giants, with the third overall pick, will try their luck again at a quarterback of the future.
Whoever that may be – Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward are the frontrunners at the quarterback position — Hyatt knows the characteristic trait he wants most in his new signal caller.
“Whoever comes in, I just want them to be a leader,” he said. “I want them to be a leader. I want them to understand when you come to the Giants, you have media you got to worry about – a lot of things that playing in New York you have to go through. Not only that, but say we’re losing, I want a quarterback to come in that knows how to be confident and comes in next game and has more confidence in himself.
“So, it’s going to be fun next year. I believe that we have the right guys in the room. We just got to add a couple more pieces and we’ll be all right.”
The Giants do have building blocks, with Nabers and fellow rookie running back Tyrone Tracy at the forefront on offense. But Hyatt also discussed that last part: having the right guys in the locker room to lead the way along with the coaching staff led by Brian Daboll heading into what many consider to be a make-or-break fourth season at the helm.
“I just say that because of how we fought, even with the losing season that we had,” Hyatt said in regard to senior leadership. “Obviously, we didn’t win a lot of games and had a lot of losses back-to-back. Just seeing that team coming into practice, practicing like we’re undefeated, practicing like we want to win. Just seeing the guys still going out there showing effort in Weeks 16, 17 and 18 shows, I can just tell, the senior leadership in that room.
“For us, we just got to start on the right path and the right foot. We got to start with a win to start the season off and build from there.”
MAKING MEMORIES WITH WORLD OF HYATT
With the last name fitting perfectly, Hyatt has been partnered with World of Hyatt for the past three years, and they’ve collaborated on a fun experience that anyone can take part in back home and in this year’s Super Bowl host city.
World of Hyatt’s FIND Experiences in New Orleans and New York City offer custom experiences where Hyatt members can bid points on the football star’s Guide to New Orleans, for example, which includes a two-night stay at the Hyatt Centric French Quarter New Orleans with a guest, food and walking tours and even a custom welcome video from the football star himself.
“It’s one of the best things we’re doing so far with the FIND Experiences. We just keep building together, and we’ll see where we get from there.”
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