Saints rookie Jordyn Tyson's absence due to 'maintenance,' coach says

Tyson was a DNP on Saturday out in Metairie, with what head coach Kellen Moore described as part of a maintenance plan, not an injury issue.

"That’s just part of the process of getting to know these guys, getting them into our system and building these guys plans just so they are ready to go, particularly for training camp and all that sort of stuff," Moore said, "but just start building these guys up the right way for OTAs and all that sort of fun stuff.”

The approach is a reasonable, if not advisable one for a player that faced injury questions throughout the entirety of the draft cycle and most of his college career. Tyson got a significant amount of work in on Friday, probably his heaviest football workload of the offseason. At this stage, if a top draft pick is dealing with any nagging issues or soreness, shutting them down is probably the right call.

The only real issue I had in leveling the information was that on Friday I asked whether Tyson was fully over the hamstring issues that had dogged him since last season at Arizona State. There was no mention of a maintenance plan, ongoing concerns or upcoming absences. The question was dismissed. In the span of 24 hours something seems to have changed.

I do think that it'd be a mistake to overreact to a rookie camp absence, but I also think the rookie would benefit from consistency in the messaging about his status. In fairness to Tyson, second round pick Christen Miller didn't participate in either practice with a similar explanation. UDFA Zxavian Harris missed both days as well, recovering from offseason foot surgery. As Moore noted, there were rookie players with slow ramp-ups last year, and that'll also be the case for veterans in the next phase of this year's offseason.

"We’re building these guys up so that the whole goal is OTAs is just a continuous build up," Moore said, "and then when they leave this place they just keep going on their own for a few weeks, and then training camp we just keep going."

If Tyson can hit the ground running at training camp, Saturday's absence will never be thought of again. Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come.

Easton in the middle

Not all of the players at rookie minicamp are actually rookies. The Saints had five second-year players participating, with those players eligible because they didn't appear in enough games in 2025 to have registered an accrued NFL season.

Easton Kilty, listed a tackle, is one of those players. He was lining up at center on Saturday, a position he's working to pick up prior to the start of training camp. Kilty told me he's excited to work in a new role, but it's a challenge. The responsibilities are a lot different. There's a level of communication that goes through the center that makes it unique on the OL. There's also the technique of actually snapping the ball, and a host of other small differences. Kilty told me it's his first time playing the position, but he did play guard for stretches in college.

The setup of this camp was also quirky because there were several reps where center Easton Kilty was snapping to QB Easton Stick. Kilty started his college career at the University of North Dakota. Stick was a star quarterback at North Dakota State. Do with that information what you will.

There's no contact in these practices, so I can't tell you positively or negatively how Kilty looked in the new role, but it will be something to watch for as camp rolls around. The Saints don't have a ton of options to be the backup center. At this point that list is basically RG Cesar Ruiz, Torricelli Simpkins III and Kilty.

Big play Barion

I don't know what the ceiling is for Barion Brown as an NFL player, but I am pretty confident he'll end up as a fan favorite.

He's got an infectious personality that fans will gravitate to immediately. He also has game-breaking abilities that could be really fun to watch if the Saints can find a way to use them. We saw a good example of that on Saturday, with Brown beating coverage down the sideline and laying out to catch a deep ball from QB Braylon Braxton. Brown immediately got up and weaved his way into the endzone before spiking the ball against the back wall in celebration.

It's tough to know whether he'd have been tackled or touched down, but it was still an exciting play on an otherwise ho-hum week for offense. Brown has a good shot to be the primary punt/kick returner in 2026. If he can also be a weapon on offense when needed, all the better.

LAGNIAPPE

I don't write much about tryout players until they make the roster. There's often just too much to cover. But it's tough not to notice Brock Rechsteiner out there and wonder if the Saints shouldn't make finding a spot for him a priority. He's the son of WWE Hall of Famer Scott Steiner, and he kind of looks like he could fall back on pro wrestling if football doesn't work out. The dude is built like a truck and has insane leaping ability. He's also a guy that could DEFINITELY be trusted to run down on special teams and make a tackle. When I first saw him out there I thought he was a linebacker, then I noticed he was with the offense. ... Speaking of guys playing different positions, we've got Kaleb Blaha, also a wide receiver. Blaha was a quarterback at UW-River Falls and put up video game numbers. He Gagliardi Trophy, the D-III equivalent to the Heisman. He's also simply an elite athlete and looked very comfortable as a pass-catcher this week. If the Saints didn't already have a dozen WRs on the roster I'd say they needed to find spots for these guys. ... I don't think this is a particularly hot take, but I wouldn't be betting on Easton Stick or Kyle Trask making an impact on this Saints roster. I didn't think either gay played particularly well in these two sessions. If I had to pick one of the three guys in attendance, I'd have gone with Braylon Braxton. All that is to say, I think the Saints are perfectly satisfied with the trio of Tyler Shough, Spencer Rattler and Zach Wilson. ... There was no Younghoe Koo at Saturday's practice, but that was simply because both kickers (Koo and UDFA Mason Shipley) kicked the prior day and didn't need additional on-field work. My money would be on Shipley to stick around for camp, while Koo ends up on a ready list should the Saints need to bring in a kicker down the line.