It’s time for the New York Jets’ investments to start paying off.
That can happen in multiple ways. Much of the attention on Jets general manager Darren Mougey has revolved around his disappointing free agent investments, such as Brandon Stephens and Jamien Sherwood. Those players must start playing up to their pay grades.
However, Mougey’s draft class is also still waiting to explode.
First-round pick Armand Membou has been thriving, but the rest of Mougey’s seven-man draft class has yet to make much of an impact.
Of course, draft classes require more than three games to be evaluated. Young players can take years until they reach their ceilings in the NFL, especially post-first-round picks.
But with the Jets sitting at 0-3, they need sparks from wherever they can find them. For that reason, it’s time to start looking toward the rookie class for jolts of energy.
Many players in this class are about to be thrust into the limelight. Fourth-round safety Malachi Moore already got his first career start last Sunday in relief of Tony Adams. Third-round rookie Azareye’h Thomas stepped up with big moments in relief of Sauce Gardner, and with Stephens struggling, Thomas’ time in the starting lineup could come sooner than later.
Even fifth-round linebacker Francisco Mauigoa is expected to get his first career start this week as Quincy Williams and Marcelino McCrary-Ball head to injured reserve.
All of these rising rookies bring newfound excitement and intrigue to the Jets’ lineup. However, New York’s highest-ceiling post-first-round pick has already been playing a featured role for three straight games: Mason Taylor.
It’s just been easy to forget that he’s even out there.
Chosen by New York with the 42nd overall pick in the second round of this year’s draft, Taylor is being deployed as the Jets’ clear-cut TE1. He has played 78.3% of the Jets’ offensive snaps this season, ranking second among New York’s skill-position players behind only Garrett Wilson (98.3%).
Despite the hefty snap count, Taylor has barely been involved in the passing game. Only nine passes have been hurled at the LSU product, who caught six of them for 43 yards and no touchdowns.
Those numbers are inexcusable for the Jets.
As New York desperately searches for answers at 0-3, the team cannot have one of its most talented young weapons producing 14 yards per game. This is a player they spent a second-round pick on. While Taylor is not expected to reach his NFL peak in three games, a second-round pick should be able to make a solid impact in Year 1. Taylor has been invisible.
It isn’t the rookie’s fault. He has made the most of his rare opportunities. Taylor has no drops and is 2-for-2 on contested catches.
The Jets just aren’t featuring him enough.
This is especially problematic because Taylor isn’t helping the Jets as a blocker. He was considered a work-in-progress in that phase coming out of college, and that reputation has not changed in the NFL so far. Taylor allowed a strip-sack in the Jets’ Week 2 loss and has earned a 53.1 run-blocking grade at Pro Football Focus (33rd out of 52 tight ends).
If the Jets play Taylor for over 70% of the offensive snaps while only throwing him a couple of checkdowns, he will be a net negative. This is not an ideal way to utilize a second-round investment.
Luckily for the Jets, they will have a chance to finally start unleashing Taylor when he travels to the city where his father spent 13 NFL seasons.
All in the family
Jason Taylor recorded 131 sacks across 13 seasons in a Miami Dolphins uniform, and 16.5 of those came against the Jets – the second-most by any player against the franchise. Only Bruce Smith (31) had more sacks against the boys in green.
The Hall-of-Famer was the stuff of nightmares for Jets quarterbacks. Although Taylor mildly atoned for his damages by helping the Jets reach the 2010 AFC championship game, he is still known in the history books as a legendary Jets killer.
It would be poetic justice for Jason’s son to flip the script.
On Monday night, Mason will get his first chance to do so, and it will come at a time when the Dolphins are ripe for the picking against his position.
Miami’s pass defense has been nothing short of abysmal in 2025. The unit has allowed opposing quarterbacks to post a passer rating of 128.9, the worst in football. They have allowed the highest completion percentage (78.8%), the most EPA per dropback (0.44), and the highest success rate (50.8%).
Much of those struggles can be traced to Miami’s inability to cover tight ends.
According to FTN Fantasy, the Dolphins have allowed the third-highest DVOA to opposing tight ends at 49.8%. In simpler terms, opposing tight ends have been nearly 50% more efficient than the league-average tight end when facing the Dolphins’ defense.
Now is the time to cut Taylor loose.
The Jets can do it by isolating him against Miami’s linebackers. Taylor is a mismatch for linebackers, as he showed on this play in Week 3 against three-time All-Pro Lavonte David.
The rookie has the quickness and route-running chops to consistently win one-on-one matchups in key spots if the Jets allow him to do so. Considering the makeup of Miami’s defense, there is little reason not to feature Taylor as the primary read in many pass concepts on Monday night.
Miami’s linebackers are atrocious in coverage. Their starting linebacker duo, Tyrel Dodson and Jordyn Brooks, has allowed 23 of 26 passes in their direction to be completed for 248 yards and a touchdown.
Dodson is particularly vulnerable. He is tied for the fifth-most yards allowed among linebackers at 143. The fifth-year man has coughed up multiple first down receptions to tight ends in each of the last two games, with Buffalo’s Dalton Kincaid and New England’s Austin Hooper both securing two chain-movers against Dodson’s coverage.
As the Jets search for answers to their 0-3 start, they shouldn’t have to look much further than a talented second-round pick who was thrown only nine passes in his first three NFL games. Taylor needs to be a bigger part of the offense going forward, and there’s no better opponent to begin that transition than a league-worst Dolphins defense with exploitable linebackers.