Top, Middle, Bottom - TE's

Edition #1074: We haven't spent a whole lot of time talking TE's this off-season but one look at the depth chart suggests we should.

Good Morning ☕

Last week at the NFL owners meeting, we heard Aaron Glenn predict a breakout year two for TE Mason Taylor. Whenever I hear a GM or a HC say something positive about a position group or part of a position group, just a couple of weeks before the draft, it encourages me to take a closer look.

Second-round pick Mason Taylor did a lot of good things in year one and he certainly flashed enough potential before injury to warrant the expectation of a sophomore breakout. But does he need more help in that TE room?

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NEWS & NOTES 🗞️

• Zack Rosenblatt believes the Jets meeting with Jeremiyah Love was a smokescreen

  • “It would be genuinely shocking if, after everything Mougey and Glenn have said publicly and privately, they turned around and not only traded Hall but used the No. 2 pick on a running back,” Rosenblatt wrote. “More likely, the Love meeting was a smokescreen to get the juices flowing for some of the other teams drafting in the Top 10 who might want to add Love — perhaps the Giants or Commanders.”

• Rich Cimini heard that the Jets were very impressed with Ty Simpson, especially his work on the whiteboard which showed his QB intelligence.

  • “They had [Darren Mougey] and [Aaron Glenn] there [to scout Ty Simpson], of course” Cimini said. “They brought [Bill Musgrave] and [Frank Reich]. So that to me is telling. They had dinner with him the night before. This was at the tail end of their scouting tour across America. ... They got in, they had dinner with him, they did some classroom work and from what I understand, no surprise here, he’s very impressive on the board. On the whiteboard. He’s a smart quarterback. The coaches loved him. But he’s a coach’s kind of quarterback, but is he a scout’s kind of quarterback? There’s a difference. The scouts are looking for the traits. The size, the arm strength, the speed. That’s not where he checks the boxes. He checks it with his cerebral approach, the ability to get to the line of scrimmage and do the whole Peyton Manning thing. Move guys around, read the defense, read the MIKE linebacker. He’s great at that stuff.”

• I’m not sure how I missed this quote from Aaron Glenn at last week’s NFL meetings, maybe Caleb Downs is in play at #2, because there’s no way Aaron Glenn does not love Caleb Downs.

  • “I’ve learned this really with Sean Payton. Man, you’ve got to shut out the outside noise. Who do you love? If you love the player, go get the player. I truly believe in that. If you love the player, go get him regardless of what everybody thinks, regardless of positional value. If you love the player, go and get him.”

• Albert Breer is another insider who is hearing that the Jets have decided to take David Bailey with the #2 overall pick. Either the Jets are sold on Bailey or they are doing a great job throwing up a smokescreen, although I’m not sure why they’d have to considering they own the #2 pick and the Raiders aren’t moving out from #1

  • “Yeah, I actually talked to a couple of teams that almost talked like it was a fait accompli.”

• NFL.com released another mock draft, this time it’s Rhett Lewis. He picks the two most common names linked to the Jets, and it’s so common you can almost guarantee that neither will be Jets come draft day:

  • Arvell Reese - The selection of Reese brings intoxicating potential to the Jets' defense, and a full-time transition to edge rusher could allow the freakishly athletic Buckeye to turn that potential into production.

  • Jordyn Tyson - Tyson is Bucky Brooks’ No. 1 ranked receiver in this class, and there might be more consensus with that evaluation if not for the injuries that have derailed the last couple of seasons for the talented Arizona State Sun Devil. Tyson would form a dynamic duo with Garrett Wilson.

• Here’s a seven round mock draft from Pro Football Network, and I’m sharing it because it offers some different insights than the standard mocks:

  • #2 Sonny Styles - Prospects off the edge such as Miami (FL)’s Rueben Bain Jr. and Texas Tech’s David Bailey, along with Ohio State’s more hybrid option, Arvell Reese, are popular options here. Instead, it will remain Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles. Nothing in my mind has changed after slotting Styles here two weeks ago as one of the top players in the entire draft.

  • #16 Makai Lemon - It’s 3-for-3 here with Makai Lemon in what has become one of the chalkier first-round picks of the draft cycle. Rightfully so. The crafty catch-point-winner will boost the New York Jets’ passing attack.

  • #33 T.J. Parker - I’ve gone Alabama quarterback Simpson here before; using your third pick in a draft generally doesn’t net you a quarterback of Simpson’s caliber. We’ll see what happens. Ultimately, the player changes from my most recent seven-rounder, but the position remains unaffected with the addition of T.J. Parker to continue bolstering this roster.

  • #44 A.J. Haulcey - It seems that the New York Jets’ moves in free agency don’t deter them from going the safety route with their fourth pick in the draft. Instead of following course with Arizona’s Genesis Smith in my last two drafts, it will be the multi-faceted A.J. Haulcy. His knack for playing around the ball in both phases ought to make him an early Day 2 pick.

  • #103 - Zane Durant, Penn State | DT

  • #140 - Cole Payton, North Dakota State | QB

  • #179 - Thaddeus Dixon, North Carolina | CB

  • #228 - Anez Cooper, Miami (FL) | OG

  • #242 - Will Kacmarek, Ohio State | TE

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TE’S - AN OPTION PER ROUND 🟢⚪🗽

I’m a big Mason Taylor guy, I wanted him in the draft last year and was delighted when the Jets snagged him with the 42nd overall pick.

44 catches for 369 yards and a TD in year one is a respectable stat line, especially when you consider he was limited to just 13 games (11 starts).

He put some really good things on tape which includes him coming down with 11-14 contested catches (78.6%), which was joint 1st among TE’s who had at least 10 opportunities, a list that includes Trey McBride (58.3%), Brock Bowers (65.2%), Tyer Warren (39.1%), Kyle Pitts (55%) and Mark Andrews (58.3%). That 78.6% was tied with George Kittle, largely considered the best contested catcher at the position. He also had a very respectable 63.1 run-block grade on the year.

The big issue for Mason last year was the drop percentage of 10.3%, 5th highest among TE’s who had at least 50 targets. He had some slight concerns with his hands early on at LSU with 3 drops in each of his first two seasons, but in 2024 he basically eradicated it from his game, dropping just 1 of his 79 targets. So I’m not overly concerned about that right now.

But the Jets TE room after Taylor is very light.

Jeremy Ruckert returns and while he’s flashed as a run-blocker he offers very little in the passing game having caught 58 passes for 443 yards and 1 touchdown in four NFL seasons, averaging 1 catch for every game played.

Behind Ruckert you have Jelani Woods, the super athlete who scored a perfect 10 on the relative athletic score, largely thanks to running a 4.61 forty at 6’7 and 253lbs. He had a promising rookie campaign in 2022 with the Colts where he caught 25 passes for 312 yards and 3 touchdowns, but then missed the 2023 and 2024 seasons through injury before being cut free ahead of 2025. The Jets swooped, but even in a lost season where experimentation down the stretch was key, he managed just 1 catch for 4 yards.

The Jets decided to pass on TE’s in the free agency period of the off-season, but chances are they’ll add one somewhere in the draft. I find it hard to believe the team would be happy heading into the season with Taylor, Ruckert and Woods.

So here is a quick primer on who could be a target in each round of the draft. This is not an exclusive list, rather players I’ve picked out to highlight.

First Round - Kenyon Sadiq (Oregon)

Sadiq is likely to be the only TE selected in the first round, although if the a team fell in love with Stowers I could see him going at the back-end. Sadiq can be lined up anywhere and his upside is immeasurable. He caught 51 of his 67 targets for 560 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2025 which includes 7 contested catches, he did have 6 drops which gave him a 10.5% rate, but his athleticism alone will give defensive coordinators nightmares. He’s also a better blocker than many give him credit for.

Second Round - Eli Stowers (Vanderbilt)