Kenyon Sadiq TE Oregon |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #18 ROLE: Slot Multi-Role TE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 02/28/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.39 seconds (100%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #18 | |
| ROLE: Slot Multi-Role TE | |
| Last Updated: 02/28/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 4.39 seconds (100%*) | |
| Overall Rating: | 87.6 / 100 | |
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| Average rating of opposition Defense player has faced | ||
| Defense Rating: |
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80% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| QB Rating When targeted: | 139.7 | |
| Hands: |
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64% |
| Short Receiving: |
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78% |
| Intermediate Routes: |
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82% |
| Deep Threat: |
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85% |
| Blocking: |
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71% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
1st - Mid
Overall Rank:
#17
Position rank:
#1 (TE)
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| College Games: 35 College Snaps: 1187 | ||
ESPN RATING: 83/100
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247 RATING: 96/100
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RIVALS RATING: 5.8 (95%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sam LaPorta - Iowa |
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72% |
| Brevin Jordan - Miami |
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63% |
| Trey McBride - Colorado State |
|
57% |
Drafted: ROUND: 1 - Pick Number: 16 (NYJ)
Draft Profile: Bio
Before Kenyon Sadiq broke the internet at the NFL Combine, he was breaking records in Idaho Falls, Idaho, where he turned Skyline High School into his personal highlight reel. The 6-foot-3, 241-pound tight end (born 2004) led the Grizzlies to three straight state championships from 2020 to 2022, and his senior year bordered on absurd: 62 catches for 1,303 yards and 18 touchdowns through the air, 233 yards and four more scores on the ground, plus two interceptions and a sack on defense. In the state semifinals against Sandpoint, he turned in a six-catch, 246-yard, five-touchdown performance that still gets talked about in eastern Idaho. That kind of dominance earned him MaxPreps Idaho High School Football Player of the Year and back-to-back 4A All-Idaho Player of the Year honors.Every major recruiting service stamped him as a consensus four-star prospect. 247Sports gave him a 0.96 grade and ranked him 78th nationally. ESPN and Rivals both handed out four-star ratings, and multiple outlets slotted him inside the top-10 athlete rankings in his class. He was the best football player in Idaho by a wide margin, and programs like Texas, Michigan, Colorado, and Oklahoma State all came calling. Sadiq picked Oregon and showed up in Eugene at 220 pounds, raw but dripping with upside at a position the Ducks have a track record of developing at an elite level.
Patience was the name of the game early on. As a true freshman in 2023, Sadiq managed five catches for 24 yards across 14 games, though he punched in a touchdown during the Fiesta Bowl against Liberty. His sophomore season brought a bigger role: 25 catches for 307 yards and two touchdowns, both of which came in the Big Ten Championship against Penn State. Then 2025 happened. Sadiq grabbed the starting job and never let go, posting 51 receptions for 560 yards and eight touchdowns to lead all FBS tight ends in scoring catches. Over three years at Oregon he compiled 80 catches for 892 yards and 11 touchdowns. The body transformation tells its own story: he arrived at 220 pounds and built himself up to 255 while cutting to around ten percent body fat. He made the 2025 Feldman Freaks list after posting a 41.5-inch vertical, power cleaning 365 pounds, and benching 435. Then he went to Indianapolis and turned the Combine into his personal showcase.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Ran a 4.39 at the Combine and shattered the all-time tight end record. That is not tight end speed. That is first-round receiver speed stuffed into a 241-pound frame.
- The vertical and broad jump numbers confirmed what the tape already showed. A 43.5-inch vertical and 11-foot-1 broad jump put him in DK Metcalf territory as a pure athlete.
- Quick-twitch feet out of his breaks give him genuine separation against man coverage. Linebackers bite on his stems and he is already two steps gone before they recover.
- Strong hands that hold up under contact. When the ball arrives with a safety closing hard, he snatches it clean out of the air instead of letting it into his body.
- Tracks the ball naturally on back-shoulder throws and sideline fades. The body control to adjust mid-route and still make the catch looks effortless on tape.
- Oregon lined him up everywhere and he never looked out of place. In-line, slot, flexed wide, motioned across the formation. That kind of alignment versatility is a defensive coordinator's nightmare to prepare for.
- Two touchdowns in the Big Ten Championship with Penn State's defense keying on him. When Oregon's receiving corps got banged up late in the year, Sadiq carried that passing game on his back. Big-moment player.
- Works zone coverage with real feel for soft spots in the middle of the field. Settles into open grass and presents himself as an easy target for his quarterback rather than drifting aimlessly between defenders.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Measured 241 pounds at the Combine, which is light for an NFL tight end. Defensive ends and edge players will push him around at the point of attack until he adds functional mass.
- Blocking technique remains a work in progress. Gets handsy, tends to lean rather than drive his feet, and loses leverage battles on reach blocks more often than you can live with.
- Drops that should not happen show up on film. Not the contested grabs, but the routine throws above his numbers where his eyes wander a half-beat too early. Fixable, but it is there.
- Physical press coverage at the line of scrimmage disrupts his timing. Corners and safeties who get hands on him early can knock his routes off schedule. Needs a reliable counter move.
- Zone recognition still has room to grow. He can sit in spaces instead of working to find true open grass, and his feel against zone schemes lags behind his man-coverage ability right now.
Scouting Report: Summary
The Combine did not just confirm what we already knew about Sadiq. It elevated him. Running a 4.39 at 241 pounds does not just make him the fastest tight end ever tested at Indianapolis. It puts him in a conversation with some of the most explosive athletes to ever work out at the Combine regardless of position. Only DK Metcalf and Nick Emmanwori have matched the combination of sub-4.4 speed, a 40-plus-inch vertical, and an 11-plus-foot broad jump at 220 pounds or heavier. Sadiq is the heaviest of the three. Those are not tight end comparisons anymore. That is freak-of-nature territory, and it changes the calculus for every team picking in the first round.The receiving ability was never in question. Sadiq wins at all three levels of the field with legitimate speed, clean route breaks, and the hands to make contested catches in traffic. What the Combine did was remove any lingering doubt about whether the athleticism would translate to Sundays. It will. The blocking is still a limitation, and at 241 pounds he is not going to hold up against NFL edge rushers in a phone booth. But that is not really the point with a player like this. You do not draft Sadiq to leave him on the line and ask him to seal C-gap. You draft him because he creates matchup problems that defensive coordinators cannot solve with conventional personnel.
The right offense will move him around constantly, split him out, use him as a big slot, and let him terrorize linebackers and safeties who simply cannot stay with him vertically. He needs a system that treats the tight end position as a weapon in the passing game rather than an extension of the offensive line. In that kind of role, the ceiling is a Pro Bowl caliber receiving tight end who forces defenses to adjust their entire game plan. The blocking will come as he matures physically and learns NFL technique. The speed, the ball skills, the big-game mentality? Those are already there, and after what he did in Indianapolis, the only debate left is how early his name gets called on draft night.
Kenyon Sadiq percentiles vs other Tight Ends (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Kenyon Sadiq (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
17.9
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
1.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.