Saints Rookie Jordyn Tyson Sidelined: Hamstring Nightmare Could Cost Him Two Months

The New Orleans Saints just caught a brutal break. Rookie wide receiver Jordyn Tyson — the No. 8 overall pick who was turning heads all summer — could be sidelined up to two months with a hamstring injury, according to sources told to Ian Rapoport and Mike Garofolo of NFL Network.

Tyson went down during the Saints' joint practice against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Aug. 13, and the initial diagnosis isn't pretty. If the timetable holds, he wouldn't be back until around Week 6, right before the Saints jet off to Paris following their game against the New York Giants. That means the start of the season — the opener at Detroit on Sept. 13 — is almost certainly off the table.

Freak accident, not a setback

Coach Kellen Moore made it clear this isn't a recurrence of the hamstring issues that dogged Tyson at Arizona State. The injury happened after Tyson caught a pass, planted awkwardly and got shoved from behind — a fluky play that could've happened to anyone. Tyson sought multiple opinions on the right hamstring injury, and Moore says the diagnosis is what it is.

"I think my understanding of this one, any player that was put in his situation where your foot slips and you get shoved from behind, this has nothing to do with Jordyn's history," Moore said. "Any player in that situation probably has the same diagnosis coming out of this."

A camp star goes down

It stings even more because Tyson was balling. The Saints were cautious with him during rookie minicamp, OTAs and veteran minicamp, but once training camp rolled around, he practiced fully every day — only sitting out 1-on-1 drills against defensive backs. Moore was glowing about his progress before the injury.

"Jordyn's had a great camp. He's played really good football. Inevitably, this is the unfortunate part of what preseason and training camp football is," Moore said. "We've already had a few of these guys, that you just have something that comes up and ... we'll just work through it. Jordyn's done a great job and he'll continue to do a great job. He'll be fine. We'll get through this and he'll be good to go."

The Saints are heading to California for joint practices with the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams, but Tyson's status for that trip was unclear as of Friday. Either way, New Orleans will have to weather this storm without one of their most promising playmakers for the foreseeable future.