Throughout the pre-draft process, concerns regarding Arizona State wide receiver Jordyn Tyson’s durability have been loud.
The star receiver missed significant time in 2025 due to a hamstring injury, and then didn’t test at the NFL Scouting Combine, sat out drills at the ASU Pro Day, and now won’t conduct a workout for teams until April 17, just one week before the 2026 NFL Draft.
On top of the hamstring issues, Tyson also missed significant time during his collegiate career at Colorado and ASU with a significant knee injury with the Buffaloes and then a broken collarbone in 2024 with the Sun Devils.
While he is ranked as one of the best receivers in the draft — maybe the best — there’s a lot of chatter regarding the durability concerns. Longtime NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay pushed back on that Friday on his latest podcast, The McShay Show.
“So now we got the ACL, MCL, PCL tear, and he misses all but three games in 2023. 2024 has an awesome year, but breaks his collarbone before the CFP. And then this year he has a hamstring injury that he sets out the final two or three games, right?” McShay said of Tyson, according to audio via the podcast. “So again, one out of every three games he has missed during a four year career, if you count it all up. Now, these are not injuries that are toughness injuries. You can say, well, the hamstring, was he…and it may be a business decision and a disappointing year getting ready for the NFL, right?
“But we’re talking an ACL, a PCL, MCL tear and a collarbone break. Like get out of here.”
It’s fair to question the hamstring situation, because it’s held him out of football action for months and leaves more questions than answers for teams ahead of the draft. But raising concerns regarding the knee injury and then the broken collarbone as toughness and durability issues seems a bit unfair, which McShay is getting at.
Those are significant injuries that you simply can’t guard against, regardless of how much training and fitness goes into preparation. The soft-tissue issues with a hamstring might be more durability and conditioning, though that can be hard to judge. Regardless, it’s caused Tyson’s stock to fall a bit.
McShay’s co-host Steve Muench also pushed back against the narrative surrounding Tyson’s toughness, citing his coaching as a reason why there shouldn’t be a concern.
“If you’re looking at him and saying the injury history is too concerning for us, I don’t like — and maybe I’m crazy, maybe this is just me being again an older guy — but I don’t think Hines Ward lets a kid on like that on the field if he thinks the kid’s soft,” Muench said of Tyson.
That’s an interesting point that, and one that teams should be diving into with Tyson. Ward was the consummate professional in Pittsburgh, tough as nails and played like it, too. He’s raved about Tyson every chance he’s had, and if Ward thought he was a bit soft, he probably wouldn’t be standing on the table for him.
So, something has to give. Either Tyson has a great workout next week and alleviates concerns and goes in the top 15. Or he struggles, teams are scared off by the durability issues, and he slips outside of the top 20 to the back half of the first round. Someone might get a steal in that scenario.
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