After Jordyn Tyson was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the first round of the NFL Draft with the eighth overall pick, the Arizona State receiver conducted his first interview through teary eyes.
"So thankful. So blessed," Tyson said from Pittsburgh. "The Lord is doing work on me, and he's not done."
He was reflective of his journey: From a 5-foot-4 high school sophomore with admittedly no work ethic, to a 6-foot junior with a significantly improved drive, through collegiate injuries in 2022 (multi-ligament knee tear), 2024 (broken collarbone) and 2025 (hamstring issues), to Thursday's first-round selection in the draft.
Similar to quarterback Tyler Shough, the Saints' second-round draft pick last year, the list of injuries didn't prevent New Orleans from making Tyson their first skill-position first-round pick since 2022, when receiver Chris Olave was taken with the No. 11 pick.
"I wasn't supposed to be here," Tyson said in his news conference with Saints media. "I'm not supposed to be here without God blessing me with an amazing family and an amazing sports system and bringing the right people in my circle, I wouldn't be here. It's all credit to God and what He did with my life and all the people around me."
Saints coach Kellen Moore said Tyson's ability to work through adversity was a high-mark characteristic.
"Credit to him, he had to navigate a knee, clavicle, the hamstring stuff that he had this year — and he battled through it," Moore said. "He injures his hamstring in the Texas Tech game, (and) he makes the plays to basically win the game at the end of the game. This guy's is a really tough football player, he battled some things and all that is positive. He worked out through this whole process."
Despite missing four games as a senior, Tyson caught 61 passes for 711 yards and eight touchdowns in nine games, and was named third-team All-American. In 33 college games (22 starts) he caught 158 passes for 2,282 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Tyson said he believes he identified the source of his hamstring issues.
"My hips were tight," he said. "My hips were too tight but I was so strong in the hips that I would just overcompensate for the tightness, so I've been getting my hips real loose. I don't think it was really a hamstring problem, it was probably a hip problem or my glutes were activating. It's all connected, so we're working on everything, we're not just working on the hamstrings. I've got a good team behind me. I feel like we've been preparing for a couple of months now."
In an effort to remain healthy, Team Tyson will include a chef, nutritionist and masseuse.
He said he'll pick the brain of Olave, a second-team All-Pro last season, and will lean on brother Jaylon (Tyson), a first-round pick (No. 20 overall) by Cleveland in the 2024 NBA Draft.
The Cavaliers, who played in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against Toronto on Thursday, informed Jaylon at halftime that Jordyn had been drafted by the Saints.
"My brother hit a 3 right after the Saints called me," Jordyn said. "It was like a dream come true. It's amazing just having a brother that's playing in the NBA and (me) playing in the NFL. He was the blueprint for me.
"I know my parents are super, super happy and feel like they can have a little sigh of relief now. We're just ready to go. We're a close-knit family, it's just us — we don't have too many outsiders. We're going to pour everything into the Saints and we're all going to put our best foot forward."
Tyson said he'll offer the Saints a complete receiver who learned to run all routes in part because of his height in high school.
"I was short. I was short, playing slot," he said. "I could only play slot because I was so short, and then when I grew I just took that slot route-running ability to the outside. Got bigger, faster, stronger, got my power output up and the sky is the limit, I feel like."
Moore and the Saints took note of Tyson's versatility.
"Jordyn is a really exciting player for us," he said. "A guy that can play a ton of positions. His versatility, the way he attacks the football, the way the catches the football, the way he can separate at the line of scrimmage, at the catch point — a lot of pluses with this one.
"He has the ability to play inside and play in the slot, and play with some wiggle. You see the basketball background, you see the track background. I think his ability as a multi-sport kid, he's got so much more versatility in his game."
