The New York Jets lost to the Detroit Lions in Week 3, but during that contest, they made quite the discovery.
Head coach Aaron Glenn had a very loud message to share about rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq after his breakout performance. A media member asked Glenn about initially not throwing a lot at Sadiq because of all the time he has missed and his reaction to the game he delivered.
“Well, now is the time to throw a lot at him. He is getting every rep possible to be able to do that. He can play multiple positions; as you saw today, he is a guy who is athletically on a different level than a lot of tight ends in this league, and he is extremely intelligent when it comes to understanding football. We want him to continue to grow in that aspect and try to get him the ball because we saw what he could do,” Glenn said on Sunday, September 27.
Sadiq has his best game as a pro. He finished with career highs in every major category:
- Receptions (7)
- Receiving yards (105)
- Average yards per catch (15)
- Receiving touchdowns (1)
- Longest reception (43 yards)
- Targets (8)
- Yards after catch (46)
Social Media Reacts to Sadiq Showing
“The Jets haven’t seen an elite TE talent like this in MULTIPLE DECADES,” Rookie Watch posted on X.
“KENYON SADIQ JUST ANNOUNCED HIMSELF TO THE NFL,” Football Performances posted.
“Kenyon Sadiq’s Week 3 performance along with percentiles for a tight end, per @SumerSports 7 catches (93rd percentile) 105 receiving yards (98th) 46 yards after catch (96th) 0.308 targets per route run (91st),” Football Integration Lead Shawn Syed said.
“Kenyon Sadiq becomes the 2nd-youngest player in Jets history (21 yrs, 207 days old) with 100-yard receiving game. The youngest? Breece Hall, 21 years, 131 days,” ESPN’s Rich Cimini wrote.
NFL Insider Jordan Schultz said, “The #Jets have a budding star in rookie TE Kenyon Sadiq.
“Kenyon Sadiq stock WAY UP! The #Jets finally have a legit threat at TE again Looking like a GREAT pick by Darren Mougey,” Jets analyst Harrison Glaser wrote.
Scary Part About This
Sadiq’s performance was eyebrow-raising, but what’s even scarier? This is only the beginning.
The former Oregon product was dealing with a sports hernia injury in college. When he was drafted in April, that had to be addressed with surgery. That forced him to miss critical offseason reps that would have better prepared him for 2026.
Sadiq missed the final week of OTAs and all of mandatory minicamp. The coaching staff said he would be fine for training camp, and he was, at least at first. After three practices, they reevaluated Sadiq, and he suffered a setback that forced him to miss even more critical reps during training camp.
Expectations were naturally adjusted with this new information. However, it has become abundantly clear that Sadiq is a quick study, and he’s ready to contribute more.
Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich even admitted as much after Week 1 of the 2026 season.
“I think I said to you guys a couple weeks before, somebody asked me the question about, ‘Hey are you going to have to phase him in?’ What I said was, ‘Yeah, we’re going to have to, he hasn’t practiced,’ and I meant it when I said it. Then I saw him practice for one week and I didn’t get a chance to talk to you guys since then, but after seeing him practice for one week, I’m like, oh no, he’s ready to go. That’s a credit to him and credit to the medical staff. Talking to AG, before he started practicing, we thought there might be a play limit that we have to put a cap on it, but after seeing him practice, seeing how he handled it and knowing what the plan was going to be for the game and using all the tight ends, we went in there with the reigns off and said let’s just play football,” Reich said on September 17.
Jets Sends Loud Message After Kenyon Sadiq Breakout