The Las Vegas Raiders still have a lot to sort through and prepare for ahead of the 2026 NFL season. Surely, all eyes are currently on the Houston Texans, with joint practices and a preseason game on the docket this week, but it doesn't hurt for fans to look at news around the league and to think ahead.
With the team's young cornerbacks still very much a question mark, the Raiders may take some tumbles early in the season before they figure things out. In Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints, they were set to face a good receiving corps, highlighted by Chris Olave and rookie Jordyn Tyson.
Unfortunately, Tyson will miss about two months with a hamstring injury, meaning he'll be out until roughly mid-October. The Raiders and Saints will face off in late September. While that is brutal news for the young wideout and his team, Las Vegas' young corners won't have as tough a task anymore.
Brutal Jordyn Tyson injury news has silver lining for Raiders' young DBs
Nobody here is wishing injury on anyone; health is so important in the NFL and in life, and both the Silver and Black and this fanbase should want to beat opponents at full strength. That said, Tyson being out has changed the complexion for a struggling group of young Raiders corners.
Tyson was the No. 8 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, and he could have been even higher if not for a nefarious injury history, which includes a torn ACL, MCL and PCL, a fractured collarbone, a sprained ankle and four hamstring strains. Honestly, it's a miracle that he got drafted where he did.
But that speaks to his talent when he is actually on the field. With Eric Stokes likely to line up against Olave, the $124 million man, covering Tyson would have been the job of Darien Porter, Zeke Masses, Jermod McCoy or Decamerion Richardson. That would have been a tough matchup for any of them.
It's not like the rest of the Saints' wide receiver corps is full of bums, as they still have DeVaughn Vele and two other promising rookies in Bryce Lance and Barion Brown. But none of these players is at the level of Tyson, so Las Vegas' young secondary shouldn't have as hard a time.
Of course, Tyson could always come back sooner than the initial projections, but with an injury-prone player like him and a nagging ailment like a hamstring strain, New Orleans will surely bring him back slowly and make sure that this doesn't continue to pester him all season and into the future.
Maybe by this point, someone in the Raiders' defensive backfield, or a few players, will have taken a big step and would be up to the challenge of mirroring Tyson all game. But as it stands now, they won't have to. So, this could be a momentum-building exercise for Las Vegas' young group.
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