Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Risk Factor: Patriots Would Face Tough Call on Jordyn Tyson | Draft Steal?

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

New England Patriots could face a major draft dilemma: should they gamble on Arizona State’s electrifying but injury-prone receiver, Jordyn Tyson, if he falls to pick 31? Tyson’s explosive playmaking, versatility, and “ultimate teammate” reputation make him a tempting target, but an alarming history of injuries and inconsistency raises red flags. Nick Cattles examines whether Tyson’s upside is worth the risk for a rebuilding roster and draws parallels to past New England misses like Dominique Easley. Cattles also spotlights Romello Height, the twitchy Texas Tech edge rusher projected for Day 2, and dissects why New England’s biggest draft failures at wide receiver and offensive line have been about execution, not effort—despite leading the league in draft capital spent since 2022. Can the Patriots finally hit on the right picks to support a young core and accelerate their rebuild? The 2026 NFL Draft could define the next era in Foxborough. Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-patriots/ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/ #patriots #newenglandpatriots  Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

One of the best wide receivers in the draft could fall to the Pats at number 31, but that does not mean it'd be an easy pick to make. This is Locked-on Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I'm your host, Nick Cattels. A wiry, explosive pass rusher has visited Gillette and could be an option

for the Pats in round three. In the second segment, we explain why the Pats' biggest issue in the draft that wide receiver and offensive line has not been about pulling the trigger. But first, a very talented wide receiver could be tumbling down draft boards and into the lap of the New England Patriots. A very, very unpredictable draft this year. We've talked about this a couple times. And I'll tell you why, because number one, there are so few blue chip players in this draft. Usually when you walk in, you've got, I don't know, 7, 8, 9, maybe even 10 blue chip guys. And that makes it a little bit easier to figure out what's going to happen at the top of the first round. Well, you don't have that this year.

You did not have that last year, as a matter of fact. The other part of this year's draft is the fact that the blue chip prospects that we're all talking about are guys at positions that are not necessarily valued very highly. You think about safety, you think about running back. So when you combine those two factors, not a lot of blue chip guys in this draft, and the blue chip guys that do exist, they don't necessarily play a position that is valued highly. Obviously, Fernando Mendoza, he's going to go number one to the Raiders. We're talking franchise quarterback, blue chip guy, blue chip position. But that's not the case for the most part when you look at the 2026 draft.

what people will call this is a flavor draft. You know, what positions do you like, do you value? Which positions do you need? How does the board fall? Different types of players at the same position. So it's really just a flavor draft. What kind of player do you like, do you love? Because the blue chip, no-brainer is not going to be there for the vast majority of the teams,

even in the first round. So that brings me to Jordan Tyson. Arizona State wide receiver. Obviously, Mike Vrable was at Arizona State before the league meetings, working out Max Ehanachor. Jordan Tyson is known as one of the best talents in this draft and one of the best receivers in this draft. We're talking somebody who is super, super talented. But when you look at the consensus big board at the athletic, the latest one that was released,

Jordan Tyson right now sits 15th on that consensus big board. and that might continue, that number might continue to fall as we get ready for the draft, as we get closer to the first round on that Thursday night. Some think Jordan Tyson could fall even further towards the end of the first round. Dame Bruegler just released his beast. I mean, the best, the absolute best breakdown of every single draft prospect that you could possibly imagine. Dane Bruegler does incredible work.

You can check it out at the athletic. And when you look at round projection for Jordan Tyson, Bruegler has Tyson first to second round. So he doesn't have Jordan Tyson listed as an absolute in the first round. And again, we're talking about what many people would tell you is the third best receiver in this class, pound for pound, the third best guy. Now let's talk about the pros for Jordan Tyson, because if he fell to 31 and the Patriots had an opportunity to draft the third best receiver in this draft at 31,

I think many people would say run the card up, make that pick. But let's look at the pros, let's look at the cons, and then I'll tell you how I feel what I would do if Tyson was there at number 31. The pros, versatility. At the wide receiver position, Jordan Tyson can play inside, he can play outside. Now, with that said, he was mostly. an outside receiver at Arizona State. He played about 75% of the snaps on the outside of the formation. So this is that kind of boundary X guy that we've been talking about. If you look at the percentage of snaps that he played in college. So 75% of the snaps on the outside this past season,

body control. He has terrific body control. We talked about that with Denzel Boston, Jordan Tyson's same kind of idea. He can contort his body to make accurate. aerobatic, gymnastic type catches. You want to talk about running after the catch. Tyson can run after the catch. He brings you that yak ability. Now, he's not going to break a ton of tackles, more on that in a little bit. But he is somebody who can make something out of almost nothing if he has a lane.

And when we talk about Mike Frable, we talk about what he built in 2025. Of course, we have to talk about culture and whether or not Tyson would fit in the locker room. And apparently so, he would. Back to Dame Bruegler with the Beast. Bruegler wrote that Tyson is seen as the, quote, ultimate teammate, unquote. So super talented guy can line up on the outside and fill that need for you. Tremendous body control, yak ability, great teammate. One of the things that a lot of people would jump all over Tyson about is the fact that his drop rate was pretty high in 2024.

As a matter of fact, his drop rate in 2024 was 8.5% that's too high. But here's the good news. Another pro for Jordan Tyson. His drop rate fell from 8.5% in 2024 to 1.6% in 2025. So why? Why is somebody who is so talented can play on the outside, can play on the inside, can give you that yak ability, reportedly a great teammate? why is this guy falling down draft boards reportedly?

Well, it's because he's injured a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a lot. Back to Dame Bruegler, he wrote about Jordan Tyson's durability or lack thereof. Tyson missed multiple games in each of his four college seasons, missed three games as a redshirt junior because of a hamstring injury, which also signlined him for most of the draft process. Now, Matt Miller of ESPN has reported that Tyson is going to work out for teams on April 17th. So a few days before the draft, Tyson plans on working out for teams.

Now, can he get to the workout? We'll see. Can he be healthy to and through the workout? We'll have to see. Back to Bruegler. Tyson also missed most of 2025 spring practices because of an ankle injury. Broken left collarbone in November of 2024 forced him to miss the Big 12 championship in Arizona State's playoff game versus Texas.

He tore his ACL, MCL, and PCL in his left knee in November. of 2022, which ended his freshman season at Colorado and sideline him for most of the 2023 season. When you look at this in totality, according to Dame Bruegler, Jordan Tyson has missed 34% of his team's games over the past four years because of injuries. More than one third of the games in college that he could have played, he missed due to injury. Obviously, You can't make the club in the tub. The best ability is availability. Tyson just has not shown the ability to stay on the field consistently in any year of his college career.

Now, you take that and you also think about the frame. Tyson is six foot two. He's got good height, but he barely cracks 200 pounds. And if you look at his body, he is lean through the core. You know, different people can carry 200 pounds, you know, in different ways, right? Some 200-pounders look skinny. Some 200-pounders have all the weight in the upper legs and the quads. Some of them have them on the shoulders, et cetera, et-seter.

When you look at Jordan Tyson, lean core, not a really big, sturdy frame. He has average strength, which would beg the question of whether or not he can play well enough against man-press coverage in the NFL. He's a willing blocker, but can he block cats at the NFL level? It's a question. And another thing about Jordan Tyson is he's pretty sporadic. And Josh Norris of The Underdog wrote this. He posted this recently.

Jordan Tyson breaks my brain a little. Amazing then frustrating. Impressed, then confused. Game to game, even play to play. So the inconsistencies, not always getting the most out of his talent. So if Jordan Tyson was there at 31, would I draft him? I would probably stay away. I would stay away because the injuries scare me.

And we're also talking about soft tissue injuries. We know how Mike Vrable feels about soft tissue injuries. The soft tissue issue is something that Vrable is annoyed by, hamstring injuries and the like, and that's what Tyson is dealing with right now. I just can't trust that this guy is going to be healthy if I draft him. And using a first round pick on a guy that you just can't trust. seen that play out before. Dominic Easley years ago, right? He wasn't healthy. You draft him at the end of round one and he does nothing for you. And that Patriots team was in a much better position

to take a gamble at 31 with somebody who's injured an awful lot because they had a more deep roster and they didn't have as many holes they need to fill. So the injuries scare me, great talent. The inconsistency concerns me a little bit. You put them in the NFL against bigger, of faster guys, that kind of frame, you know, guys usually don't get healthier as they age. And the fact that Jordan Tyson's been banged up as much as he has been banged up and now he's going to have to play against Kat's NFL size, I would stay away. And I know that's not a popular opinion, but I just can't get past the injury stuff. If it was one year, okay. If it was just the ACL, PCL MCL, MCL, okay, we've seen dudes go through that. We just saw Stefan.

digs go through that, come back and look okay. But the accumulation of injuries at a young age concern me. NFL draft analytics that might stun you. If not, they will certainly frustrate you. It's coming up. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. The NBA playoffs are here, where every possession matters, every matchup is magnified, and every game can swing a series. And right now, Fandul is giving new customers a great way to get in on the action. You can bet just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. The app makes it easy to follow the action with players, stats, trends, and matchups all in one single place.

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access to a group chat with other listeners of this show. Tap the link in the show notes to find out more or go to lockdown patriots.supercast.com. Also, don't forget, if you're watching us on YouTube to like, comment, and subscribe, helps us with the algorithm. Appreciate every single one of you through my first year. I'm through my first year officially here with lockdown.

And I got to tell you, the numbers have been great this past year. I appreciate every single one of you. Let's continue to support this and build this community. And again, the next goal, 10,000 subscribers want to get there by the draft. It's going to be a very steep climb, but let's continue to push. Like, comment, and sub. Almost every draft the last few years. We've talked about the Patriots.

And we've said, they got to draft offensive linemen. They got to draft wide receivers. Like, what are they doing? Two of the most crucial positions, right? First, it was to help Mack Jones, support Mack Jones. Then it was to support Drake Men. Well, here's something that some people might not appreciate enough. The Patriots have drafted offensive linemen in wide receivers.

As a matter of fact, they've spent a lot of draft capital at offensive line in wide receiver. Warren Sharp recently posted the total capital used to draft wide receivers since 2022. Number one, Green Bay Packers, two chargers, three panthers, four Jaguars, five bears, six giants, seven Texans. And at number eight, the eighth most total capital used to draft the wide receiver position since 2022, your New England Patriots, ahead of the Chiefs, ahead of the Cardinals. How about the offensive line? This might turn your stomach. Again, back to Warren Sharp. Warren Sharp on the total capital used to draft offensive linemen since 2022.

Number five, the Saints. Number four, the Jets. Number three, the Cowboys. Number two, the Seahawks. And number one, with a bullet, your New England Patriots. So when you look at total capital used to draft wide receivers and offensive linemen, the Patriots are in the top 10 in both. When you look at wide receiver, they are eighth in total.

When you look at the offensive line, nobody, absolutely nobody, according to Warren Sharp, has used more capital on the offensive line in the draft since 2022 than your Patriots. So we have to stop with the whole, they just have to draft offensive linemen and wide receivers. They have to draft the right offensive linemen and the right wide receivers. And this kind of highlights how bad the drafts were from, you know, 2022 through 2024. Because even though you used all of that draft capital on wide receiver in the O line, on the O line, you know, you've got two of your five starting offensive linemen that were, you know, drafted through the past couple of years. I mean, you look at the fact is from 22 to 24, you've got, you know, zero offensive linemen up front that were drafted starting for you.

through those drafts because of course will campbell jared wilson both those cats were drafted in last year's draft so you spent all that capital you've spent all that capital since 2022 and between 2022 and 2024 through those you know three drafts you got really nothing to show for it up front and then you look at the wide receiver position the best wide receiver you've drafted by far is kishan booty to this point and he's he's really a fine number three from what we have seen. Some might even argue he's a 3B on some other teams. So the Patriots are using draft capital,

but using draft capital at a position of need does not make it a good pick. And that's obvious, but these numbers, I mean, these numbers highlight that. The eighth most capital on wide receiver and the best dude you've got is Kishon booty to this point. The most draft capital on the O line since 2022, and only two of your five offensive linemen were drafted by you within, you know, that time frame. Obviously, Michael Wen, who was drafted by the Patriots,

but you've got to go back years ago for that one. You have to draft well. I mean, look at 2022. 2022, the Patriots walked into that draft and they used the first round pick on an offensive lineman, and they moved up in the second round, the draft of a reason. receiver. How'd it work out? Terribly because they drafted Cole Strange and moved up for Tyquan Thornton. I mean, that really is. That really is the prototypical draft vibe for so many years before last year. In 2023, the Patriots drafted not one, not two, but three

offensive linemen. Jake Andrews, now playing for the Houston Texans, City Soe, Otonio Moffey. I don't think either of those guys are in the NFL right now. Now, when you go back to 2023, using two picks in the sixth round at wide receiver on booty and Pop Douglas, it makes you feel a little bit better and at least helped you a little bit. But Pop Douglas didn't play a whole lot last year, had some impact, didn't play a ton, and we already covered the booty thing.

And then you jumped to 2024, four, you used two picks in the top four rounds at wide receiver. Jalen Polk, now with the Saints, did nothing. Javon Baker, he's not even in the league right now. So again, it's not about using draft capital. It's not about the Patriots being unwilling to pull the trigger and invest in the offensive line and invest at wide receiver in the draft. It's just a lot of swings and misses.

is 24, Caden Wallace still on the team, might not be there, day one, 2026 season. Layton Robinson. I don't even know if he's in the league, honestly. Have no clue. Now, Kyle Williams, TBD, because you got to give young players, especially at receiver, you got to give those guys a couple of years to prove themselves or prove themselves as a failure. So Kyle Williams, big season coming up. I feel good about Will Campbell.

I feel good about Jared Wilson. I know not everybody feels that way. And yes, some of these picks, if you look back, if you're talking post fourth round, those picks are flyers. Like Antonio Maffi was pretty much a flyer. Michael Wenow was a flyer back in the day in the sixth round. Booty and pop were flyers in the sixth round. But, you know, we just have to underline and highlight this fact.

The Patriots have been willing to spend picks at these positions. They just got to get them right. And when you fast forward now to the 2026 draft, you're looking at tackle. You're looking at interior offensive line. You might be looking at receiver depending on how the rest of that room falls and whether or not you feel confident that you're going to be able to acquire an AJ Brown or somebody else. So we're back at it again. We're back at it, 26, offensive line, and maybe wide receiver.

But if you want to draft and develop, if you want to be known as a program that drafts and develops, guess what? You've got to hit on the pick first and then you develop. Needless to say, back-to-back good drafts or very good drafts would be huge for this program. I feel good about the 2025 class. We'll see how the 2026 class unfolds in a couple of weeks. But if you could have back-to-back valuable quality drafts, you're on the right path. path. But it's not about the amount of picks. It's not about how you invest those picks. It's just getting them picks right. A possible day to answer at Edge has visited Gillette.

We'll break that player down next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. trying to book an appointment that's not the most convenient sitting in a waiting room with stack of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation. But this year, you're getting a major upgrade. Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face-to-face with a real tax expert, and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot.

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Don't forget to like. Don't forget to comment. Don't forget to subscribe. The search for an edge continues for the Patriots. And Ryan Fowler recently posted that Ramello Heights as a visit lined up with the Patriots. Now, let's talk a little bit about Ramello Hyte from Texas Tech. He's the other defensive end.

Of course, David Bailey is the more well-known edge player from Texas Tech, who is likely going to go in the top five of this draft. But for the Patriots purposes, we'll look at Ramello Heights. 6'4-3, 240 pounds. Let's stick up pin in that weight for a couple minutes. His arm length 32 and a quarter inches. So not super long arms, but he does hit that 32-inch benchmark. He's athletic.

I would not say crazy athletic, but he's athletic according to the relative athletic score. 8.80. That would rank him 251st out of defensive ends since 1987. So pretty good. Pretty good. If you watch him on the field, he does have the bend. You know, so if you watch his explosiveness on the field, you might believe that he's a little bit better of an athlete than what he tested out. And of course, that's when you have the conversation of what guys tested at the combine, how much that really matters compared to what they do on the field. But Ramello Height right now in the latest athletic consensus big board is ranked 92nd in the top 100.

He's fallen three spots since the last consensus. So we're talking about somebody who is most likely, you know, a day two pick might fall to day three. Dame Bruegler in The Beast has Rame Lowello Height as a third round projection. So number 92, third round, Patriots draft 95th in the third round. So we're not talking, at least I don't think we'd be talking about Ramello Height being drafted by them at 63 in the second. He's certainly not going to be drafted at 31, at least I don't think. We're more looking at that third round pick 95, and then maybe he falls even further. And maybe you talk about Ramello Height in the fourth round and being a day three pick.

But right now feels like day of N2 type guy. So how would this work? It would work a couple of different scenarios. If the Patriots decide that they're not going to draft an edge at either 31 or 63, then Ramello Hype might be in play. Now, why would that happen? Well, if an offensive tackle is sitting there at 31, the Patriots like, they can gobble them up. And second round, if they're going off the idea of best player available,

who knows who's going to be there at 63. Maybe it's a wide receiver that you love, that you did not expect to be there. Maybe it's a linebacker. Who knows? Nobody knows. But it is quite possible that you can get through the first two rounds. I find it unlikely, but it's possible you get through the first two rounds without drafting an edge. If that's the case and you're sitting there at 95, Ramello height might be the guy. Another scenario, and we're going to dig deeper into this in a future podcast,

but another scenario is if the Patriots decide to double dip at edge. and decide to double dip at edge in the first three rounds. So, you know, maybe you draft an edge at 31. You draft another position at 63 and then you come back around at 95 and you draft an edge at 95. So two out of your first three picks, edge position, you've now double dipped. Rest of the draft, you address your needs that you haven't really looked at to that point. So those are the two scenarios. If the Patriots don't draft an edge in the first two rounds

and are looking to add somebody in the late third round, or if they want to double dip at edge and draft somebody at the end of the first and then come back, draft somebody at 95. Of course, you could also say they're going to draft somebody at 63 at edge and then come right back at 95 and go back to back, belly to belly, at the edge position. Now, Ramello Hyde, just like we, we do with Jordan Tyson. Let's look at the pros and the cons. We talk about first step explosiveness.

And that's something Elliot Wolf has highlighted when talking about the Patriots and what they look for in their pass rushers. Height has that first step. He's got a quick first step. He's got the speed to power pass rush. He loves utilizing speed to power. Now at times it takes him a little bit to crank it up because of his size, which again, we'll get to in a minute. But he is relentless. He is twitchy. You know, you hear scouts and you read this stuff all the time as you get closer to the draft. One of scouts' favorite words are twitchy. Coaches love saying twitchy. Height is twitchy. So first step explosiveness, speed to power pass rush. He's twitchy. He's relentless. He will pursue on the back end of plays. And he's also athletic enough and smart enough to drop into

some coverage. And we know the Patriots, we saw that this past season. They tend to drop some of their guys into coverage every once in a while. They're defensive linemen, right? They'll drop them into coverage. They'll drop their interior into coverage from time to time. They'll drop their ends. So height has that ability because of that twitchiness and because of that pretty good athleticism that he can drop. And he's going to pursue dudes from the back and make plays. Effort, finish all that stuff, right? The effort is there. The comment. We stuck a pin in it for a reason. He's 240 pounds.

Now, you know, can he gain weight? Sure. Shove a bunch of steak and cheeses down his gullet. I'm sure he could put some weight on. But remember, we've talked about 255 or so, being that magic number at edge for Mike Vrable and his defense. So right now, you roll in at 240, you know, you're 15 pounds underweight. Draymont Jones played last year, he said, at 265.

Ramello height is 25 pounds lighter than Draymont Jones. So obviously steak and cheese jokes aside, dude's going to put on some weight, put on some muscle. Can he do it? I don't know. And of course, because he's 240, he's not necessarily awesome at defending the run. Another big hit about Ramello height is that he's going to turn 25 years old next week. Now, Akeem Mesidor, you know, some of these other guys that you look at, you know, age is a question. right? Well, from mellow height, age is a question.

Mesidor just turned 25 a couple of days ago. height turns 25 next week. So the age and the size concern me because we're not talking about somebody who's 240, but he's like 19, 20 years old. We're talking about, you know, a guy who's, it's a grown man. You're a week away from 25 and you're 240. So, you know, rotational pass rusher, subpass rusher type guy. maybe the Pats like him, maybe they think they can put some weight on him.

But I do have concerns about the age and I have concerns about the size. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel. Hit that like button and subscribe. If you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get Lockdown Patriots ad free plus members only Discord access and more.

head to lockdown patriots.supercast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn even more. Have a great day and we will see you next time.