The New Orleans Saints tapped Arizona State‘s Jordyn Tyson at No. 8 overall in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night, and it elicited quite the reaction from the two-time All-Big 12 wide receiver.
Upon hearing his name, Tyson made his way toward the podium and even stopped midway through his trip to spend a moment of reflection before greeting Roger Goodell onstage for that iconic first-round photograph.
Tyson, transferring to Arizona State from Colorado in 2023, arose from a knee injury to finish his career with 1,812 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns as a Sun Devil. He thanked the school during his draft day comments on Thursday.
During his senior season, Tyson, as reported by BuffStampede, made amends with Deion Sanders, who arrived at Colorado before leaving for Tempe.
Tyson is the first Sun Devil drafted into the NFL since Cam Skattebo, selected by the New York Giants in the fourth round of last year’s draft.
Pretty good, right? Starts his career with a lowly 1-11 Colorado squad and now finds himself as a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft. Talk about a trajectory.
The Saints, bringing back Tyler Slough, needed another set of hands alongside Chris Olave, and boy did they find it. The major concern is health, considering Tyson appeared in just 33 games across four seasons of college football.
Most recently, Tyson suffered a hamstring injury against Texas Tech, but remained in the game as part of the winning drive for a 26-22 victory. He’d return for the final two games of the regular season, including a 23-7 home loss to rival Arizona.
The upside’s there, though. Tyson could certainly walk into Doug Nussmeier’s system with few hiccups, and one could make the argument that his injury history has only made him a tougher route runner to knock down.
