Chargers 90-in-90: WR Jalen Guyton

Coming out of Allen High School as a four-star recruit, Jalen Guyton initially committed to Notre Dame where he redshirted his only year on campus. He was dismissed for an “undisclosed reason” and promptly transferred away from South Bend.

Guyton ended up at North Texas where he had to sit out the 2016 season due to NCAA transfer guidelines. During his first year of action for the Mean Green, Guyton was named a Second-Team All-CUSA honoree after catching 49 passes for 775 yards and nine touchdowns. As a junior in 2018, Guyton improved on most of his stats by collecting 54 catches for 805 yards and six touchdowns.

Although he had one more year of eligibility left, Guyton decided to forgo that and enter into the 2019 NFL Draft. At the school’s pro day, he was reportedly timed at 4.37 and 4.42 in the forty. Both would have been top-three marks among receivers at that year’s NFL combine. He also jumped 37.5 inches in the vertical, 10’5 in the broad jump, and put up 13 reps on the bench press.

Guyton was signed by the Chargers on October 23 of 2019 before being promoted to the active roster on November 30th. He spent the 2019 preseason with the Dallas Cowboys before being one of the final cuts on August 30th.

In his second year with the Bolts, Guyton earned a starting job in three wide-receiver sets alongside Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. He finished the year with 28 receptions for 511 yards and three touchdowns.

Guyton set a career high in receptions the following season with 31 catches that he took for 448 yards and another three touchdowns. The 2022 season was cut short for Guyton after he sustained a torn ACL against the Jaguars in week three. Before the injury, he had caught a pair of passes for 64 yards.

Basic Info

Height: 6’1
Weight: 212
College: North Texas
Experience: 4
Years with team: 4

Contract Status

“Jalen Guyton signed a 1 year, $1,232,500 contract with the Los Angeles Chargers, including a $76,000 signing bonus, $76,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $1,232,500. In 2023, Guyton will earn a base salary of $1,080,000 and a signing bonus of $76,000, while carrying a cap hit of $1,029,500.” - Spotrac.com

The Good

Guyton is still the most-proven deep-threat in the Chargers receiver room and that role will be his until another player proves to be a better option. Guyton’s route tree has been fairly limited since he started seeing the field during the 2020 season but it’s grown just enough for him to be a usable depth piece when injuries arise.

The Bad

Guyton is coming off a torn ACL that currently has him sitting out of training camp practices indefinitely. It’s always going to be a concern for a player like Guyton coming back from a severe injury like this as his speed is his calling card when it comes to how he impacts this Chargers offense. If he can’t return to form somewhat soon after getting back on the field, he might end up losing what little stock he had left as a member of this position group.

Odds of making the roster/What to expect in 2023?

While Guyton has been sidelined in camp, John Hightower has been making a plethora of plays down the field and it’s starting to become a real possibility that the latter could end up taking the former’s role as the team’s deep-threat. For now, he’s got the edge in terms of chemistry with Justin Herbert and I don’t think the team will underestimate how important that is when it comes time to build their final 53-player roster.