Over the next few months, we’ll be breaking down all undrafted free agents signed by the Jets. We continue today with former Hawaii and Incarnate Word wide receiver Jalen Walthall.
The 23-year old Walthall is listed at 6’0” and 191 pounds and was initially an undrafted free agent signing for the Texans. The Jets picked him up earlier this month when he was released by them. After catching 37 passes in two years at Hawaii, Walthall transferred to Incarnate Word and posted almost 1,300 receiving yards with 14 touchdowns in 2024, but his production was down last season.
Walthall was a three-star high school recruit who headed to Hawaii and redshirted the 2021 season. He had a promising redshirt freshman season with 27 receptions for 333 yards and a touchdown, but announced he would be transferring five games into his second season. At the time, he had just 10 catches for 127 yards despite starting three times.
He went on to transfer to Incarnate Word and had a breakout campaign with them at the FCS level in 2024. He had 85 catches for 1,290 yards and 14 touchdowns. This saw him named as a first-team FCS all-American and the Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
In 2025, Walthall was a little banged up, and his production dipped but he was still good enough to earn first team all-Southland Conference honors for the second straight season as he had 70 receptions for 847 yards and eight touchdowns. That production also came in four fewer games.
Walthall was invited to the scouting combine and regarded as one of the top small-school receivers in the draft but did not get selected and Houston picked him up as an undrafted free agent. The Jets acquired Walthall when he was released by the Texans in early June.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Walthall brings to the table, based on in-depth research and film study.
Walthall has average size and could probably do with bulking up a little for the NFL. As noted, he was invited to the combine where he ran a slightly disappointing 4.57 in the 40-yard dash but posted an excellent 131-inch broad jump.
At his pro day, he failed to improve on his 40-yard dash but did increase his vertical jump from 35 inches to 38.5. He also did the agility drills, posting modest numbers, but did not participate in the bench press.
In college, Walthall played primarily on the outside with less than 10 percent of his snaps coming in the slot. He also carried four times for 50 yards in his career, with a longest run of 30 yards. All of those carries came last season with three in his final game.
Walthall definitely established himself as someone who could get behind the defense with his burst and acceleration at the FCS level. In 2024 alone, he had almost 500 yards on passes more than 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage with nine touchdowns, and he impresses with his ability to routinely track and locate the ball faster than the man covering him.
However, his record on deep plays at Hawaii was less than stellar with just three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown on 16 downfield attempts.
Walthall’s catch rate was barely 50 percent at Hawaii, although this is impacted by the lack of success on downfield throws noted above. He also didn’t get many high percentage short passes.
His efficiency improved at Incarnate Word with a catch rate of 65 percent and a reduction in drops from six in two seasons at Hawaii to just three in two seasons at UIW.
You may seem him juggle or bobble catches at times, but he absolutely has the ability to make some highlight reel plays.
He also displays the ability to go up and get it athletically on jump balls and fade routes.
Some scouting reports indicate that his hand strength at the catch-point can be lacking. However, this may just be largely based on one play against Villanova where he almost came down with a jump ball but the defender ripped it out at the last minute which was almost an amazing play rather than being a sign of weakness.
What you will often see with FCS receiver prospects, especially those who saw a dramatic increase in production after dropping a level, is that it can be attributed to them having have a size or speed advantage more often than they used to. This can mean that they don’t need to be as detailed-oriented to get separation because they can rely on those athletic advantages.
In Walthall’s case you can see some good route-running fundamentals and the hope would be that he didn’t become complacent and start picking up bad habits because he was finding it easy to produce at that lower level.
Some scouting reports have indicated that he struggles to get off press coverage but Walthall himself scoffed at this assertion on social media, wondering aloud if the people saying that had watched any of his film. For what it’s worth, we do often notice certain draft analysts who very clearly pick up on one negative play from a player and automatically list that as a negative even when it may be a one-off.
At practices for the East-West Shrine Bowl, he at least showed some good hand usage and an ability to separate when a defensive back gets his hands on him, so he may indeed be much better than advertised at that.
Walthall had 22 touchdowns in the past two seasons after having had just two at Hawaii, but the majority of these came from outside the red zone. However, he did still have several scores from close to the goal line as well.
Walthall was extremely productive after the catch at Incarnate Word. He was fourth in the FCS in terms of total yards after the catch in 2024 with the only FBS receiver to log more yardage after the catch being one of Walthall’s new teammates with the Jets: Jamaal Pritchett.
He wasn’t used in the screen game much at Hawaii but averaged 10 yards on 27 catches behind the line with two touchdowns in his first season at Incarnate Word. He was considerably less productive on screens last year but did have another touchdown on one.
He had three fumbles during his college career.
Walthall didn’t make much of an impression as a blocker in college with many scouting reports listing it as a weakness. His grades on analysis sites such as Pro Football Focus tended to be average. However, you can see some flashes of him displaying good effort and getting after it.
Walthall’s record on contested catches isn’t too bad, especially considering he doesn’t have outstanding size.
As noted some scouts consider that he can be slowed down by press coverage but Walthall disputes that.
Walthall didn’t play much on special teams during his college career, but there may be some untapped potential here. He played 10 snaps as a gunner in 2023 and had two nice tackles.
Instincts and Intelligence
Walthall tracks and adjusts to the ball well while it is in the air and is considered to have a solid football IQ, often reading the coverage prior to the snap and adjusting accordingly having played in an option-heavy offense.
One area where Walthall’s football IQ shows up is in his ability to improvise and get to an open area when his quarterback extends the play, which was something IUW’s starter had a knack for. He also displays good vision as a ball carrier.
He had a handful of pre-snap penalties during his career.
Walthall wasn’t a team captain at IUW but the coaching staff praised him for helping to foster a focused, team-first culture. He gives great effort in practice, the weight room and in film preparation and constantly does everything at full speed. He is also an advocate for the 24-hour rule in terms of putting mistakes or disappointments behind you.
The reason he decided to leave the Hawaii program in the middle of his second season is that he wanted to be closer to home and get more playing time, so that’s not necessarily troubling.
One possible negative is that his on-field discipline hasn’t been great with 14 offensive penalties over the past two seasons, including a handful of unsportsmanlike penalties.
To be fair, one of those penalties was for a headstand celebration that went viral and inspired a couple of NFL players to emulate it the next day, so that one was probably worth it.
Walthall doesn’t have any injuries listed during his career and doesn’t seem to have missed any significant time due to injury, but it was reported that he dealt with nagging injuries in 2025, which is one reason why his production slipped.
Walthall has played in a relatively complex offense so hopefully the jump from FCS to NFL won’t be too demanding for him. However, one question might be whether he would remain in the mix on the outside. He is a similar size to both Omar Cooper and Garrett Wilson, so they could be who he backs up – and both will be expected to play more in the slot than Walthall has in the past so that might require an adjustment from him.
During his redshirt season at Hawaii, Walthall was a teammate of current Jets offensive lineman Kohl Levao.
Walthall was one of the last players brought in during the offseason program, which might work to his benefit if it means the team wants to see more.
He’s also at the bottom end of the depth chart at a position where, once again, this can be beneficial because it probably means you’re going to get some legitimate playing time in preseason.
Walthall may need to refine a few things if he’s going to be able to produce against NFL-level talent but if he is as competitive as advertised, he should bring a good effort to the battle for opportunities and he does flash the kind of playmaking ability that could enable him to make a splash in preseason.
He’ll be gunning for a practice squad spot and a chance to remain in the system for a year so he can benefit from NFL coaching and conditioning.