It is widely accepted the 49ers will be selecting a wide receiver in the 2026 NFL Draft as they look to set themselves up for the long term at a key position.
San Francisco’s need at wideout is such that they could use a first-round pick on that spot for the second time in three years.
The Niners will likely have their pick of several talented receivers with the 27th overall pick in the first round, and there is buzz that an unexpected player may fall into their grasp.
Makai Lemon, Carnell Tate and
Jordyn Tyson have long since been regarded as the top three wideouts in the class.
But ESPN’s Matt Miller suggested that the latter could go much later than initially anticipated.
Miller wrote:
“One player trending in the wrong direction leading up to the draft is Arizona State receiver Jordyn Tyson. In reviewing my grades with a handful of scouts, many remarked that Tyson’s hamstring injury and lack of predraft workouts could cause him to slide to the back half of the first round. Three scouts told me that Tyson ranks as the No. 4 receiver on their internal boards. He is scheduled to do positional work for NFL teams on April 17.”
Tyson’s potential slide could present a huge opportunity for the 49ers to put their receiving corps in an excellent spot long term by adding a player who arguably has the most complete skill set in the draft class at the position.
Looking purely through the lens of what Tyson can do when healthy, it’s a chance the 49ers should be very willing to take.
Though the final season of Tyson’s college career was disrupted by injury, there is little disputing the impact Tyson was able to have at Arizona State as the clear focal point of the passing game, scoring 19 touchdowns for the Sun Devils across 2024 and 2025. He racked up 1,101 receiving yards in 2024 before finishing last season with 711 in nine games. The 2024 season saw Tyson finish with 3.04 yards per route run, third among wideouts in the 2026 draft class with at least 50 targets.
His success was in no small part a product of Tyson’s superb lower-body flexibility.
Tyson may not have been able to test or work out for teams yet, but the tape leaves no illusion as to his strengths, with his ability win consistently with his release and by changing direction smoothly without gearing down at the top of the route enabling Tyson to get open and win at all three levels.
That fluidity is complemented by short-area explosiveness and variety in his route-running arsenal. Tyson is far from a burner, but he has regularly proven he can stack defenders when working downfield and maintain that separation, with his usage of well-executed head fakes complicating matters for defenders tasked with stopping him from getting open.
While he is not as dominant at the catch point as the likes of Tate and Denzel Boston, Tyson tracks the ball very well and boasts the ability to elevate and come down with contested grabs. Tyson dropped only one pass in 2025 despite having a 35% target share, the highest among the receivers in the draft class charted by Sports Info Solutions.
And, though not a yards after catch specialist, Tyson does possess upside in that area, his average of 5.9 YAC per reception in 2024 superior to that of Boston (5.3), KC Concepcion (5.0) and Tate (4.9).
Able to do damage from the outside and from the slot — a position from which he scored eight touchdowns over the last two seasons — there are very few holes in Tyson’s game, and yet the red flags are such that the 49ers would have reason to be reticent about taking him even at 27.
Why 49ers could pass on Jordyn Tyson at 27
Tyson’s injury history is an extremely checkered one, with the hamstring injury that has ruined his pre-draft process the latest in a line of setbacks that were a constant feature of his collegiate career.
Having transferred to Arizona State after suffering a torn ACL, MCL and PCL in his lone season with Colorado, Tyson was restricted to only three games in his first year with the Sun Devils and then sustained a broken clavicle in 2024, ruling him out of a postseason campaign that ended with the Sun Devils reaching the quarter-finals of the College Football Playoff.
An apparent lack of durability is not what the 49ers need in a first-round wide receiver given the bad luck they have had at the position in recent years. On top of the concerns over the injuries, Tyson has been criticized for quickly sliding to the turf after catching slants.
That is a valid critique, and that kind of avoidance of contact is unlikely to sit well with Kyle Shanahan. However, Tyson has also displayed considerable grit in his college career, fighting through the hamstring injury to score a touchdown and then convert a key fourth down and draw a crucial pass interference penalty on a game-winning drive against Texas Tech last season.
His efforts in that game reflected a player who excels at getting open on scramble drills, a key trait for wideouts hoping to succeed playing with a quarterback like Brock Purdy who thrives on second-reaction plays.
And with the 49ers having significantly bolstered their receiving corps in free agency through the additions of Mike Evans and Christian Kirk, the argument can be made that San Francisco is in a position to take a calculated risk on a player like Tyson, especially with how valuable those two veterans could be as mentors for Tyson.
The 49ers have drafted relatively well in recent years, but the home runs have been minimal. Tyson has the high floor and the high upside to be a home-run pick, but he would still represent a significant gamble for the 49ers if they were to find themselves in a position to take him. After a 2025 season in which the 49ers had to put up with a lot of discourse surrounding one former Arizona State wide receiver, they could yet be forced to have a serious conversation about adding another to their roster.
