On Tuesday, we analyzed the historical drafting tendencies of New York Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reichand identified prospects in the 2026 NFL draft who match them.
Today, we will look at the other side of the coin. Which 2026 draft prospects do not match Reich’s drafting tendencies?
Makai Lemon, WR, USC
Across his six seasons as a head coach for the Indianapolis Colts (2018-22) and Carolina Panthers (2023), Reich’s teams drafted eight wide receivers. All eight were at least 200 pounds, and seven of the eight were at least 6-foot-2. None were under six feet.
If Reich insists on upholding this trend, it means that USC’s Makai Lemon might not be a slam-dunk pick for the Jets if he is available when they’re on the clock at No. 16.
Lemon is an extremely skilled wideout, but he carries a small frame at 5-foot-11⅛ and 192 pounds. He also has short arms (30½ inches, 16th percentile among WR) and small hands (8¾ inches, 9th percentile among WR).
Reich likes to call a hefty dosage of in-breaking routes over the middle of the field. As a result, he seems to prefer bigger-bodied wideouts who he believes can be trusted to hang onto the ball through hard hits in traffic.
It is entirely possible that Reich’s past drafting tendencies do not come into play for the Jets in 2026. After all, Reich is now the OC, not the head coach, so he has less power than he did back then. Not to mention, Reich needs to make some changes to his old philosophies if he wishes to succeed as a play-caller in 2026, so drafting a smaller receiver could be one of those changes.
Still, it is worth considering that over a six-season span, Reich-led offenses drafted eight receivers, and not one of them was as small as Lemon.
KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M
Staying on the receiver topic, Texas A&M’s KC Concepcion is another small wideout who would be an outlier if he were drafted by a Reich-led offense.
Concepcion draws a wide range of opinions from draft analysts. Currently ranked as the No. 29 overall player on NFL Mock Draft Database’s consensus big board, Concepcion could be an option for the Jets at No. 16 or No. 33, depending on how the team views him.
Jet X’s Joe Blewett is high on Concepcion’s film, particularly praising his YAC skills and route-running.
When it comes to measurables, though, Concepcion doesn’t fit the typical Reich receiver mold. He measured in at 5-foot-11⅝ and 196 pounds at the combine, with short 30¼-inch arms (11th percentile).
Again, this is not to say there is no chance New York deviates from Reich’s historical trends. But when a coach targets the same traits across all eight of his draft picks at a position, it probably isn’t coincidental. Reich seems to be a coach who greatly values size at the receiver position, and as the quasi-head coach of the Jets’ offense, he will probably get his way if he insists on it.
Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon
A productive receiving tight end with slot versatility and all-world athleticism, Kenyon Sadiq has emerged as a dark-horse candidate for the Jets at No. 16, particularly in a world where the team does not have a quality wide receiver option in that slot.
While Sadiq would be a tantalizing weapon for a Jets offense that needs help wherever it can get it, the issue is that Reich probably isn’t the type of coach who would get enough value out of a tight end to justify selecting him 16th overall.
Throughout his coaching career, Reich’s teams have relied heavily on 11 personnel packages, which use only one tight end. In 2023, the Panthers ranked second in the NFL with an 87% usage rate of 11 personnel. In 2022, the Colts placed third with a 77% usage rate.
If this holds up in 2026, the Jets will only have one tight end on the field for well over three-quarters of their offensive plays.
With 2025 second-round pick Mason Taylor already penciled-in as the Jets’ TE1, where is Sadiq going to get his snaps to make a first-round impact?
Reich’s drafting history reaffirms that tight ends are not very important to him. Across his five years in Indy, the Colts drafted just two tight ends, including none in the first two rounds. The Panthers did not draft any tight ends in 2023.
Nothing should be ruled out in what figures to be one of the more unpredictable drafts in recent memory, but it would be a mild shock if a Reich-led offense selected a tight end in the top 16, based on Reich’s history.
Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame
Ranked No. 46 overall on the consensus big board, Jadarian Price is viewed as a second-round prospect.
The Jets are probably not in the market for a second-round running back, but hey, you never know. So, it’s worth explaining why Price likely isn’t the type of player who would entice New York to make the surprising pick.
Reich likes to involve his running backs in the pass game. From 2018-23, running backs averaged a 21.0% target share in Reich’s offenses; for comparison, the 2025 NFL average was 18.2%.
This emphasis was on display in the draft, where Reich immediately made it a point to draft a receiving back in his first year as the Colts’ head coach. In 2018, Indy used a fourth-round pick on NC State’s Nyheim Hines, who racked up 89 receptions for 933 yards in college.
Hines went on to catch 63 passes for 425 yards and two touchdowns on a 10-6 team in his rookie year. Under Reich’s leadership, Hines ranked sixth among NFL running backs with 1,537 receiving yards from 2018-21.
Price doesn’t project as a player who can make this type of impact in the pass game.
At Notre Dame, Price’s usage in the pass game was extremely limited. Across three seasons (41 games), Price caught just 15 passes for 162 yards and three touchdowns. That includes just six receptions in 2025.
In fairness to Price, he made his opportunities count when he got them. Price was only targeted 18 times in his career, and he caught 15 of those passes with zero drops.
Still, if the Jets are going to select a running back earlier than expected, Reich will want a proven receiver with a high chance of making an immediate impact in that area. Price cannot offer that with his paltry sample size of opportunities.
Not to mention, Price graded poorly as a pass protector in his career as well, earning a brutal 26.0 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus in 2025.
If the Jets are going to draft a running back, expect them to wait for Day 3 and target someone like Washington’s Jonah Coleman, who offers a reliable track record of receiving and pass-blocking production.
Jake Slaughter, C, Florida
The Jets have a need at center, as their current projected starter, Josh Myers, was one of the lowest-rated starters at the position in 2025.
It’s hard to say what Reich thinks of drafting centers. The Colts already had Ryan Kelly locked-in when Reich arrived. Kelly held the position down at a Pro Bowl level throughout Reich’s entire tenure, so the Colts never had to worry about drafting a center.
While there is little evidence regarding Reich’s thoughts on the center position in the draft, we can analyze his schematic tendencies and identify players who project as strong or weak fits.
When it comes to his run scheme, Reich prefers to attack between the tackles. In his last two seasons as a head coach (2022 is as far back as this data is available), Reich strongly preferred to pound the ball downhill rather than stretch it outside. Inside zone and man/duo were by far his favorite concepts relative to the NFL average, while outside zone took a back seat.
This could mean that Florida’s Jake Slaughter, a projected fourth-round center prospect, might not be Reich’s cup of tea.
Ranked No. 102 on the consensus big board, Slaughter could be a target for the Jets with the 103rd overall pick. However, Slaughter seems like a better fit for a team that plans to rely on outside zone concepts in the run game.
Slaughter is a tremendous athlete, earning a 9.97 Relative Athletic Score on the basis of his 32.5-inch vertical, 110-inch broad jump, and 5.10 forty. However, he has a relatively slight frame at 6-foot-5 and 303 pounds.
On the field, Slaughter excels when it comes to accelerating on outside zone blocks, and he is smooth on reach blocks. But his overall lack of mass and power is apparent, particularly when it comes to drive blocks, which are critical for teams that rely on inside zone and man/duo.
Kansas State’s Sam Hecht and Kentucky’s Jalen Farmer are two examples of center prospects who might be a better fit for Reich’s projected run scheme.
Keep in mind, though, that we don’t actually know what type of run scheme Reich plans to run in New York. We can use his previous stops to get an idea, but on a new team with three years to think about what went wrong at his last two stops, Reich could come out with a totally new offense in 2026. Perhaps the Jets will indeed be an outside zone-heavy team, making Slaughter an ideal fourth-round target.
For now, though, based on his heavy reliance on inside zone and man/duo at each of his last two stops, Reich should be viewed as a coach who would prefer to add linemen who work better in a phone booth than in space.
