Why Tennessee's Jalin Hyatt is a 'high floor' draft pick for NFL teams

Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt is expected to be one of the fastest players at the NFL Scouting Combine when he runs the 40-yard dash Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. After all, top-end speed is what the All-American wide receiver is known for.

It’s that speed, and the ability to stretch a defense vertically, that makes his potential so high at the next level. It makes him a pretty safe bet, too.

“My thing with him is I think there’s a high floor,” NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said, “because worst-case scenario he is going to stretch the field. He is going to take the top off of defenses. You’ll be able to put him in the slot and be able to run deep overs and run verticals.

“The vertical stuff is what he does best,” Jeremiah added during a conference all with reporters, “but I’ve seen him flash the ability to get in and out of breaks. He just doesn’t do a ton of it.”

Jalin Hyatt was Tennessee’s first Biletnikoff Award winner, 13th unanimous All-American

He did a little bit of everything for the Vols during his breakout junior season. 

He became Tennessee’s first Biletnikoff Award winner — given annually to college football’s best wide receiver — after his breakout junior season. He also was the 13th Tennessee player to become a unanimous All-American.

Hyatt finished the regular season leading the country in touchdowns, with his 15 setting a new Tennessee program record. He had 1,267 receiving yards, only 31 yards short of matching the Tennessee record held by Robert Meachem, who had 1,298 yards in 2006.

Hyatt’s 1,267 yards came on just 67 receptions, giving him an average of 18.9 yards per catch. As the biggest deep threat the country, Hyatt finished No. 1 in the country in plays of 30 or more yards (15), 40 or more yards (11), 50 or more yards (7) and 60 or more yards (5).

“You can just pitch him the ball and let him do some things after the catch with his speed,” Jeremiah said. “He is not super elusive. He is going to need work to develop the full route tree. That’s not going to happen right away.”

During a four-game stretch last season, from LSU on October 8 through Kentucky on October 29, Hyatt caught 22 passes for 582 yards and 11 touchdowns.

He had four catches for 63 yards and two touchdowns at LSU, six catches for 207 yards and a school-record five touchdowns against Alabama on October 15, seven catches for 174 yards and two touchdowns against UT Martin and five catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the Missouri game with seven catches for 146 yards and a touchdown.

He had five catches for 166 yards and two touchdowns and started the season with a touchdown on Tennessee’s first offensive snap against Ball State on September 1.

Jalin Hyatt will instantly be ‘an elite field stretcher’ in the NFL

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., in his latest mock draft, mentioned Hyatt as a possibility at the 31st overall pick to the Kansas City Chiefs.

“If general manager Brett Veach wants to add a wideout here,” Kiper wrote, “Jalin Hyatt (Tennessee) is the guy to know. He’s a deep threat with outstanding vertical speed — he could run in the 4.2-second range in the 40-yard dash at the combine.”

ESPN has Hyatt as the No. 46 overall prospect in the draft and the seventh best wide receiver, one spot behind his former Tennessee teammate, Cedric Tillman.

“I think in the immediate term you have an elite field stretcher,” Jeremiah said, “so I think you’ve got to know what you are buying there and know what that role is going to be. 

“If you are going to bring him in there and ask him to be Keenan Allen, then that’s not going to work because that’s not who he is.”