Jaylan Ford stared down at his leg as he was carted off the field. His head was bowed, and the pain in his ankle, stabilized in an air cast, outweighed the slight stinging from the turf burn on his elbow.
It wasn’t until later that the former Longhorn found out his fibula broke when he collided with another player on a punt in the waning minutes of the New Orleans Saints’ Week 17 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders.
That same week, the linebacker would undergo his first surgery ever and miss his first offseason, which he had been looking forward to.
“That was the first broken bone I’ve ever suffered,” Ford said. “Really, the worst injury I had was like a hamstring strain. Even at Texas, I never missed any game. That made it even worse. Like, I never missed games.”
So Ford went through the rest and recovery process. He rehabbed his ankle in the training room. He worked to get healthy and watched as the rookies around him got to enjoy their off-season.
Then the day came that Ford could step back on the field and practice with the team. He ran and played on defense and…
Ford got hurt again. This time, it was a soft tissue injury.
“I finally got healthy, then I got hurt again,” Ford said. “It was just like having to battle through that little bit of adversity, and just learning how to deal with it.”
Now, after a year of being fully recovered, Ford doesn’t worry about his injury as much anymore. He has a “new ankle” after surgery, making it feel different from how it used to be, but he has adjusted to the feeling.
“There are things I have to do just because of the surgery I had on my ankle,” Ford said. “Similar to if a guy messes his ACL up. His knee, it’ll be different, but you can still find ways to still get out there and move around.”
While he has never had to work through an injury before and deal with the mental struggles of not being able to play for his team, Ford has had to prove himself at every turn throughout his playing career. Recruited from Lone Star High School in Frisco, Texas, Ford was only a three-star recruit coming out of high school, the lowest-ranked recruit in the 2020 class.
He contributed mostly on special teams his freshman year through all 10 games; however, his high school coach, Jeff Rayburn, knew he had potential on the Texas defense.
“Especially with the switch to the 3-4 defensively, I think he will have an opportunity … to go get on the depth chart at linebacker,” Rayburn told the Daily Texan in 2020.
And he did eventually get that opportunity. Ford worked his way up through the ranks to become the first Longhorn with back-to-back 100-tackle seasons since Keenan Robinson in 2010-11.
He performed so well that Ford found himself sitting on a stool waiting for an important call. It was quiet when his phone started to ring. Ford looked down, saw the 214 number, and thought the Cowboys were calling him.
But it was the New Orleans Saints, drafting him in the fifth round.
“The thing that makes Jaylan a great NFL prospect is his versatility,” head coach Steve Sarkisian said in a statement after Ford was drafted. “He’s got the size, speed and a really high football IQ … The Saints will love this guy, as a player, in the locker room and in the community. Jaylan’s just an incredible player and person.”
In the eight games he played in the 2024 season, Ford made four total tackles and faced large crowds of devout Saints fans, even if the team’s record was terrible.
“I’m used to Texas having 100,000, so I’m glad I got to come to a team that has a big fan base,” Ford said. “And they always bring energy, regardless of our record. … I think you kind of have a chip on your shoulder to go up there and win for them, similar to Texas.”
Despite the rough start, Ford is now back on the field, starting in the same place he did at Texas: special teams. In a week two preseason game this season against the Jaguars, Ford snagged an interception in the red zone. Then, against the Cardinals, he recorded his first in-season tackle since his injury.
“For me,” Ford said. “I just want to be the best special teams player I can be, for me, myself and the team.”