Some New York Jets fans are concerned about whether first-round tight end Kenyon Sadiq can make an impact early in his rookie season.
Sadiq, chosen 16th overall in this year’s draft, missed the entire preseason and most of training camp after a setback from his hernia surgery, which he underwent in May before returning in time for camp. He will be ready to play in Week 1, as he has fully participated in practice this week, but the rookie is behind on preparation time.
Summer prep is critical for all first-year players, but especially tight ends, who are often considered to have one of the most difficult learning curves of any position, as they need to be intimately familiar with both the receiving patterns and the blocking schemes.
Will Sadiq be acclimated enough to help the team win its season opener in Tennessee?
On top of that, will the presence of second-year tight end Mason Taylor prevent Sadiq from accruing the production that is expected of a top-16 pick?
Suffice to say, there is legitimate concern that Sadiq, who was chosen with an all-important first-round selection acquired from the Colts in the Sauce Gardner trade, might have a hard time justifying his draft slot in 2026.
However, Sadiq may have a better opportunity to make game-changing plays in Week 1 than many people realize.
Titans present an appealing matchup for Sadiq
For an athletic, high-upside receiving tight end like Sadiq, the Titans’ projected starting safety duo of Amani Hooker and Kevin Winston Jr. is ripe for the picking.
Hooker and Winston both struggled mightily in coverage last season. They earned Pro Football Focus coverage grades of 44.8 and 44.5, respectively, which ranked 88th and 89th out of 97 qualified safeties.
In particular, they struggled with allowing yards after the catch.
Tennessee’s safety unit allowed 547 yards after the catch, per PFF, ranking as the fifth-most. In a season where the Titans had seven different safeties play at least 70 snaps, Hooker and Winston were responsible for 346 of those yards.
Winston, in particular, was a liability in this area. Allowing 191 yards after the catch on just 19 receptions, he yielded an average of 10.1 YAC per reception, ranking 77th among the 79 safeties to allow at least 15 receptions.
Hooker was not quite as poor in this area, but he also ranked in the lower half, placing 51st out of 79 qualifiers with 5.5 YAC allowed per reception.
This is the perfect weakness for Sadiq to exploit in his NFL debut without much preparation.
For now, it could be a bit ambitious to expect Sadiq to rack up downfield receptions at a high volume. He will need time to learn the playbook and gel with Geno Smith before he can be trusted to run downfield routes with proper timing and precision.
In the meantime, the Jets can maximize Sadiq’s all-world athletic ability by featuring him on simpler concepts in the underneath game, whether they are designed or not.
A screen or two for Sadiq could make its way into the playbook; perhaps even an end-around/jet sweep. They can also ask him to focus on simple drag routes, flat routes, and checkdowns whenever he is deployed in the passing progression, while Mason Taylor handles the higher-leverage downfield routes for now.
Drawing matchups against two YAC-prone safeties, Sadiq could do plenty of damage on these types of plays. It would be particularly appealing if the Jets could get Sadiq, who ran a 4.39 in the forty, going with a horizontal head of steam on a drag route. Give him a rub with a vertical clear-out to get the safety behind him, put the ball out in front of him, and let him breeze through the defense after the catch.
It might take a while until the Jets unleash the full extent of Sadiq’s powers. That time may come later in 2026, or perhaps not even until 2027.
As he develops, Sadiq can still impact winning by making timely plays. Look for the Jets to find a couple of spots each week for Sadiq to make the most of his historic athleticism, particularly in Week 1, as he matches up with a safety duo that yielded oodles of YAC last season.
