Jets Will Be Forced to Trade up to Land Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq

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Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq trying to make a play during his Pro Day.

If the New York Jets want Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq, they will have to trade up during the 2026 NFL draft.

ESPN’s Rich Cimini revealed the latest information he is hearing during the “Jets Collective” podcast.

“Yeah, since we last talked last week, I think the intel that I have been getting on Kenyon Sadiq is [that] he is not going to be there at [pick No.] 16. Kansas City, I think, has the 9th pick. I think the window opens for him right there. I’d be very surprised if he got down to the Jets at [pick No.] 16,” Cimini explained.

On a previous episode of the “Jets Collective” podcast, Cimini revealed that he “heard some rumblings in the scouting community about the Jets and Kenyon Sadiq.”

The Jets wouldn’t take him at No. 2 overall, but it could be an interesting conversation at No. 16 overall. However they may need to make a mini trade-up in the first round to secure his services.

You Need a Plan to Maximize Sadiq

The Jets invested a premium resource at the tight end position last year. Mason Taylor was the No. 42 overall pick in the second round of the 2025 NFL draft.

Would the Jets use another premium asset at the same position?

If you have a creative offensive cooridator then you should be able to utilize Taylor and Sadiq together.

NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein called Sadiq, “A versatile tight end with a shredded physique and alluring potential as a volume target, Sadiq’s route tree will be full of branches … Teams looking to diversify their passing game options with a talented pass-catching tight end could make Sadiq a priority.”

Sadiq is listed at 6-foot-3 and tips the scales at 241 pounds.

“I’ll tell you who could be really interesting is if you decided to throw in Kenyon Sadiq. I’m a big Mason Taylor fan. If you say we’re gonna attack teams with one of these guys as our big slot. We’re going to work a lot of primarily 12-personnel: two wide receivers, one running back, and two tight ends. One of our tight ends is going to be a big slot,” Zierlein said on the “Now Boarding” podcast.

A Scary Warning to the Rest of the NFL

“You can’t just put anybody on him. A lot of linebackers will be mismatched on him down the field. You put a safety on him, but he may be too big. You could put a corner on him, but more likely you’d see a nickel corner on him, and those guys run about 190 pounds. [With] Kenyon Sadiq, man, that is a physical mismatch. You can now run the ball. If they have a smaller player, you can audible into it or even set them up where you’re running the ball at Kenyon Sadiq because he is out in the slot blocking a nickel. That’s probably going to be a win in most scenarios,” Zierlein added from the “Now Boarding” pod.

A tight end can be a quarterback’s best friend. The Jets don’t have a clear-cut long-term answer at QB on the roster, but a player like Sadiq can help Geno Smith immediately. Eventually, the Jets will find that answer, whether that is in April’s draft or next year.

Whenever that happens, Sadiq will still be around to help out that young player on offense.

Paul Esden Jr. covers the New York Jets for Heavy.com. A New York native, he co-hosts a morning show, “The Manchild Show with Boy Green Digital.” Before joining Heavy in 2021, Esden Jr. covered both national and New York sports for FanSided, Elite Sports NY, and The Score 1260. More about Paul Esden Jr.