Kenyon Sadiq is trading green and yellow for green and white.
The Oregon tight end was selected by the New York Jets with the No. 16 overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. The junior's blend of size and rare straight-line speed turned him into one of college football's most talked-about prospects all offseason.
As reported by KGW, the Jets used their mid-first-round selection on the 6-foot-3 pass catcher. Sports Illustrated adds that Ducks coach Dan Lanning and members of Oregon's staff were with Sadiq and his family for the call, a snapshot of how the program has become a steady producer of early-round talent.
A freakish workout at the Combine
Sadiq's rise up draft boards kicked into overdrive after a historic NFL Scouting Combine performance. NFL.com reported he ran an official 4.39-second 40-yard dash, then added a 43.5-inch vertical and an 11-foot-1 broad jump, testing numbers that forced scouts to rewrite more than a few reports.
Those measurables, paired with his movement skills, give Sadiq the kind of profile NFL evaluators expect to cause matchup problems for slower linebackers and undersized defensive backs.
Production and profile
Sadiq did not just win the stopwatch. He turned his athletic upside into steady production in Eugene. He finished the 2025 season with 51 catches for 560 yards and eight touchdowns, and he had 24 catches for 308 yards as a sophomore, according to ESPN.
Scouts highlight his ability to line up in the slot, off the line, and occasionally out wide, a versatility that makes him more of a movable mismatch piece than a traditional in-line blocker.
How he fits in New York
The pick gives the Jets a different flavor at tight end compared with the more in-line options already on their roster. It also hands the offensive staff a speed-based mismatch to deploy in motion, spread looks, and two-tight-end packages.
The team's pre-draft preview singled out Sadiq's "move-TE" traits and the problems they can create for opposing defenses, according to the New York Jets.
Oregon milestone
Sadiq's first-round selection is a notable line in Oregon's record book. If he holds as a top-32 pick, he will be the first Ducks tight end taken in Round 1 since Russ Francis in 1975, a milestone highlighted by Sports Illustrated. It continues a run of early selections out of Eugene and reinforces the Ducks' recent pipeline to the league.
Next up for Sadiq is the standard rookie checklist: finalize his contract, report to offseason work, and dive into the playbook with New York's coaches. For Ducks fans, his name on the draft card is another sign that Oregon's NFL output is not slowing down. For Jets fans, it is a high-upside, speed-first addition to an evolving passing attack.
