Put Jordyn Tyson in a generic uniform and it is easy to confuse him with Odell Beckham Jr. as he levitates.
Or mistake him for Jaxon Smith-Njigba as he breaks in and out of routes to create easy separation.
No wonder so many receiver-needy NFL teams are thought to be salivating at Tyson’s ceiling. Including the Giants — armed with two first-round draft picks (No. 5 and No. 10) after trading Dexter Lawrence — and the Jets (No. 16).
“He does everything,” one NFL scout who gave the same grade to Tyson and Malik Nabers (2024 class) told The Post. “The guy is just open. He is quick at the top of his route, his feet have no wasted movement, he has the speed to win downfield. Great hands. He checks a lot of boxes. He’s slightly bigger than JSN but faster.”
And yet there is a fear that the 6-foot-2 Tyson will spend as much time on the sideline as Beckham, whose career was derailed by injuries after three brilliant seasons. Beckham worked out for the Giants on Monday in his latest restart attempt.
Tyson missed 17 college games due to injuries (torn left ACL and other ligament damage late in 2022, broken collarbone in 2024 and hamstring injury in 2025).
It’s similar to the hesitancy that (foolishly, in hindsight) caused Smith-Njigba — the 2025 NFL Offensive Player of the Year — to slip in the 2023 draft after missing 10 games due to a hamstring injury during his final season at Ohio State.
“All hamstrings heal,” Dr. David Chao, the former Chargers team doctor and founder of Sports Injury Central, told The Post. “If he had some sort of chronic history of hamstrings and was overly tight, you would’ve found that out at the NFL Combine, so it didn’t bother me at all he didn’t work out at the combine and missed Pro Day because he wasn’t 100 percent yet.
“The clavicle fracture doesn’t bother me because he plays hard, it’s a freak thing, and it heals. The only potential concern is that knee injury, but he’s got three years of tape after this. The only thing you’d say for a downgrade is, ‘He’s fine today but he’s getting some arthritis’ — but he doesn’t move like he’s arthritic.”
If anything, Tyson’s movements are electric.
“I’m a big fan: The talent is impressive,” one NFL offensive coach said. “Route runner-wise, he’s like OBJ, but OBJ’s hands were better.”
Giants general manager Joe Schoen saw Tyson’s explosiveness firsthand Friday at Tyson’s individual workout — the morning after the two dined together near Arizona State.
“He can play inside and outside,” a second offensive coach said. “I see him as an ideal No. 2 receiver, which pairs well with Malik Nabers. He lacks some strength against press coverage to be a true No. 1 ‘X’ receiver and doesn’t have blazing speed to consistently run by you on the perimeter, but his hands and contested catches are really good. His body control and yards after catch are good. Toughness is a question mark.”
Toughness is a trigger word for Hines Ward, the former four-time Pro Bowler and Arizona State’s receivers coach. Ward remembers when Tyson popped his hamstring in the third quarter against Texas Tech.
“I tried to pull him out — a lot of scouts didn’t know the story — and he’s like, ‘Coach, I love my brothers. I don’t know what’s going to happen. If this is going to be my last game, I want to do all I can even if I can’t run the route,’ ” Ward said last week.
“He single-handedly on that last drive led us down all the way [four catches for 55 yards and a penalty drawn] and helped us win that game. That’s where I learned about J.T.’s toughness and who he is as a person. Sounds a lot like myself as a player. I didn’t want to come out of the game. People questioning J.T.’s toughness, I just laugh at it.”
Chao said, as a team doctor, he would “yellow light” Tyson in his medical grade turned in to a general manager.
“I don’t buy into ‘injury-prone’ for him,” Chao said. “You are going to stop and look at his medicals, but he’s not a red light. I don’t see his health being the dominant feature of dropping him. His workout was more to check the box.”
In the Giants’ case, Nabers is coming off a torn ACL but demands high-volume targets when healthy. The rest of the receiving corps — Darius Slayton, Darnell Mooney, Calvin Austin III and Jalin Hyatt — is not certain to be part of the 2027 roster but it’s easy to see Nabers-Tyson as a Ja’Marr Chase-Tee Higgins foundation.
“The injuries wouldn’t scare me off,” the scout said. “He’s the best receiver in this draft, so it’s worth a risk. Especially for the Giants: Jaxson Dart is not the most accurate quarterback and Tyson is going to help him by being open.”
Ward, the former Steelers great, is accompanying Tyson to the draft in Pittsburgh.
“I tell all the teams,” Ward said, “you are going to get a winner.”
