The Saints were able to get an extended look at rookie WR pick Jordyn Tyson over the first 11 days of training camp, but it could be a while before No. 0 is spotted catching passes again.
That's because the No. 8 overall pick went down hurt on his third catch of the day during Thursday's joint practice with the Jaguars. Tyson suffered an injury to his right hamstring, head coach Kellen Moore confirmed, noting that it was not related to any preexisting issues.
"It's just something new, and so they'll collect some more information on that, put together a good action plan for that moving forward and, you know, we'll keep progressing as well as we can," Moore said following the team's walkthrough at the Caesars Superdome on Friday.
Coverage brought to you by Trane: It's Hard To Stop A TraneTrane: It's Hard To Stop A TraneTyson will not appear in Saturday's preseason opener, a decision that had been made prior to the injury, and it remains to be seen if he'll travel with the team out to California next week or stay behind to continue his rehab at the team's facilities.
There is still no timeline for a potential return, and the head coach noted that it is possible that a recovery could last into the regular season -- though he made clear that very little is currently known on that front. The injury occurred, Moore said, when Tyson was going to the sideline and slipped while being pushed from behind. The head coach said that the circumstances would have led to an injury for most players. Tyson stayed down for several moments before jogging back across the field. He would later leave with trainers and did not return to practice.
"Any player in that situation probably has the same diagnosis coming out of this," Moore said. "So, yeah, we'll just navigate. They'll collect a bunch of information here and, you know, talk to plenty of people, just put together a plan for us and we'll move forward.”
Tyson is just one of a few Saints players dealing with hamstring issues. DE Cam Jordan and RB Devin Neal have both missed the past several practices with issues of their own. But the young WR's injury history creates a bit more concern. Tyson missed multiple games in his final year at Arizona State with hamstring issues, which also derailed the majority of his pre-draft process. The talent was never in question, but durability concerns created a major red flag.
Tyson participated in the first day of rookie minicamp, but was held out of on-field work from that point on through OTAs and minicamp. He had been a full participant in the first 11 practices of camp leading up to the injury, which means he got through the full installation of the offense. He and QB Tyler Shough had been displaying rapidly improving chemistry in recent practices, and if Tyson does have to miss significant time there will still at least be some groundwork to fall back on.
If Tyson does miss significant time, that could mean bigger roles for players down the depth chart, most notably fellow rookies Bryce Lance and Barion Brown, both of whom should have a big role against the Jaguars on Saturday.
The Saints will have an off day on Sunday and practice Monday morning before traveling out west for a week. They'll face off in joint practices against the Cowboys and Rams before a preseason matchup with the Rams. They'll then return home for the final practices of camp before facing the Cowboys in Arlington for the preseason finale.
