Watching Kenyon Sadiq\u2019s highlight reel makes it feel like the earth is shaking beneath your feet.<\/p>\n
If the Oregon tight end is not crashing to the ground in the end zone after an athletic, full-extension catch \u2014 like he did against Rutgers and Minnesota \u2014 then Sadiq is driving a Wisconsin or Washington linebacker onto his back and laying on top of him like a wrestler waiting for three points. Or he is hurdling over a Penn State or Montana State defensive back whose arms are flailing in empty airspace.<\/p>\n
The NFL has explosive pass-catching tight ends and physical blocking tight ends. But Sadiq could develop into one of the best in both categories in short order.<\/p>\n
Ducks tight end Kenyon Sadiq runs against linebacker Isaiah Jones during the first quarter of Oregon\u2019s semifinal loss to Indiana in the College Football playoff semifinal. Dale Zanine-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThe position isn\u2019t to be a bigger, slower receiver,\u201d Oregon offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer told The Post. \u201cIt\u2019s to be the combo player that everyone wants and needs. That\u2019s exactly what he became. And his ceiling is still well in front of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sadiq\u2019s draft stock could skyrocket starting Friday when he is expected to challenge Vernon Davis\u2019 20-year-old Scouting Combine record for fastest 40-yard dash time by a tight end (4.40). The bar-setting time last year belonged to Sadiq\u2019s college teammate, Terrance Ferguson (4.63).<\/p>\n
Add in a vertical leap that should exceed 41 inches \u2014 good enough for the top five all time by a tight end \u2014 and it is clear why Sadiq thinks he can make a \u201cstatement\u201d that he deserves to be the first skill position player with fewer than 1,000 career scrimmage yards in college to become a first-round pick since Ben Watson in 2004.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing versatile is a big part of my game,\u201d Sadiq said. \u201cI have a very mature mindset coming into this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mehringer balks at any notion that Sadiq didn\u2019t practice hard, recounting all the times that he saw him in the treatment room tending to his hamstring or groin and sneaking in a 30-minute pre-practice warmup with a my-team-needs-me attitude.<\/p>\n
Kenyon Sadiq looks on before Oregon\u2019s first-round win over James Madison in the College Football Playoffs. Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
\u201cHe takes nothing for granted,\u201d Mehringer said. \u201cMost 20-year-olds are not sitting around like he is saying, \u2018I should ask Coach why Cooper Kupp had a triple crown receiving season [in 2021]. Let me go watch all his option routes because that\u2019s something I can get better at.\u2019 If I tell him he needs to get better at something, he gets hyper-focused and that\u2019s exactly what he does. You have to reel him back in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Sadiq is 2 or 3 inches shorter than the prototypical NFL tight end. He also had six dropped passes, which will have scouts paying close attention to his on-field drills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s still errors and concentration drops which need to be fixed at this next level because, I mean, it\u2019s just inexcusable,\u201d Sadiq said. \u201cBut there\u2019s definitely strengths in my game: there\u2019s a lot of contested catches made, also a lot of diving catches.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s before getting to his blocking. Sadiq\u2019s granite-carved physique is the sign of the big number to come Saturday when he saddles up to the 225-pound bench press.<\/p>\n
Kenyon Sadiq warms up before Oregon\u2019s first-round win over James Madison in the College Football Playoffs. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an insanely good blocker because he is super strong and super twitchy,\u201d Mehringer said. \u201cGuys that are bigger than him, he gets on them faster. It\u2019s not the most fun portion of the job \u2014 he can score the ball because he\u2019s legitimately way faster than everybody else at his position \u2014 but is a 6-foot-3 tight end going to get in there and mix it up? He\u2019s not scared at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will the 49ers see Sadiq as a George Kittle-Kyle Juszczyk hybrid? Will the Eagles use him to replace free agent Dallas Goedert? Will two-tight-end maximizers \u2014 head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel \u2014 bring him to the Chargers?<\/p>\n
Sadiq prepared like a perfectionist, Mehringer said, to diagram plays in formal Combine meetings because it\u2019s the only way he knows.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was going to be a bit more intense at times, kind of grilling you,\u201d Sadiq said. \u201cBut some of them are just really just getting to know the staff and getting to see what personalities are like.\u201d<\/p>\n
One emerging NFL trend is teams using more and more \u201c12\u201d personnel \u2014 one running back and two tight ends \u2014 every year as a way to combat smaller defenses and slot cornerbacks. Could Sadiq be effective motioning pre-snap to create run and pass mismatches instead of becoming a glorified slot receiver?<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve talked about him with different teams and they are like, \u2018We already have a tight end,\u2019\u2009\u201d said NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah, a former scout. \u201cYeah, but he can be the complementary tight end and he can block. Having tight ends who are well-rounded \u2014 even if they are the \u2018move\u2019 guy and not the hand-in-the-ground guy \u2014 I think teams are looking for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sadiq\u2019s chance to show where it can be found starts now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watching Kenyon Sadiq\u2019s highlight reel makes it feel like the earth is shaking beneath your feet. If the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,349,208570,5693,99],"class_list":["post-493467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-combine","tag-oregon-ducks","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=493467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}