Former Chargers draft target catches yet another bad break on the Giants

Predicting who the LA Chargers will take in the NFL Draft can be a crapshoot and that was especially true during the 2023 NFL Draft. There was a wide range of predictions for the Bolts, with some of the most respected beat reporters predicting that the team would take speedy wide receiver Jalin Hyatt.

The Chargers ultimately drafted TCU's Quentin Johnston in the first round while Hyatt fell all the way to the New York Giants in the third round. As disappointing as Johnston has been in LA, he has still been far more productive than Hyatt has been in his NFL career.

Unfortunately for Hyatt, the bad breaks aren't stopping. The once-promising draft prospect's string of bad luck has continued as he was forced to leave Giants minicamp with an apparent knee injury. Early impressions are that it won't be severe, though.

There's an alternate reality where Jalin Hyatt is on the Chargers

Hyatt was an interesting case in the 2023 NFL Draft. He was one of the most explosive wide receivers in the draft and was coming off a season with the Fred Biletnikoff Award
for good measure. He's the only winner in the last seven years who wasn't drafted in the first round.

His slide was likely caused by his limited route tree, which has shown up at the NFL level. But to be fair to Hyatt, he was drafted to one of the worst quarterback situations in the league.

There is no telling how productive or non-productive he would have been as a Charger. On one hand, he would have had an elite quarterback to make the most out of his deep-field skillset. On the other hand, the Chargers actually drafted a wide receiver with holes in the first round and look how that turned out.

There was even some speculation around Hyatt being traded during the offseason with the Chargers listed as a logical destination. That obviously never came to be but because of his speedy profile, he is naturally being tied to Herbert at every turn.

Hyatt's luck certainly would have been better if he was drafted by the Chargers instead of the Giants. But that does not guarantee that Hyatt would have been any more successful in Los Angeles instead of New York.

Perhaps Hyatt will turn it around and make the Chargers regret not drafting him with a great season in 2025. That, or the injury will just be the first unfortunate domino to fall in the 2025 season.