Content available exclusively for subscribers
With two tight ends out with injuries (Kenyon Sadiq and Jelani Woods), Mason Taylor got a lot of reps at the Jets two day minicamp.
They cancelled the third practice, scheduled for Thursday.
One of the better passing plays on Wednesday was a connection between QB Geno Smith and Taylor on a crossing route for a nice gain.
Taylor also caught a TD pass in the middle of the end zone from Smith. It looked like he cut away from linebacker Jamien Sherwood on this play. I will get to linebacker coverage shortly, but this looked like a well-run route, selling it nicely, and was pretty wide open.
With so many new players added this off-season, including another tight end (Sadiq) and a big-time wide receiver prospect (Omar Cooper), both in the first round of the 2026 draft, Taylor hasn’t been under the spotlight much this off-season, but let’s not forget this was one of the top TE prospects in the 2025, a borderline first-round player got in the second-round with Pick 42.
This just in – Taylor is a very good football player, and even with a revolving door at QB last year, he still managed to haul in 44 passes.
Over the first half of the season, with the team QB forcing passes to Garrett Wilson, even when he wasn’t open, Taylor, at times, didn’t see the ball enough.
And then he missed the last four games of the season with a neck injury, so 44 catches isn’t that bad.
There is so much to like about this player. If you were to build a tight end in the lab, he would look like Taylor – 6-5, 251 with 4.6 speed.
Obviously, Sadiq, when healthy, is going to take away some catches from Taylor, but don’t sleep on this guy in 2026.
Good football player . . .
Getting back to the linebacker coverage.
It certainly looked like Taylor cut away from Sherwood on the TD.
To Sherwood’s credit, a couple of players before the TE, he knocked away a pass in the middle of the field on the goal line.
But the TD pass is an example of how he needs to trigger more quickly in coverage and not be a see-and-go reactor. He needs to trust his eyes more in coverage . . .
Speaking of linebacker coverage, Marcelino McCrary-Ball, he had a nice PD on tight end Jeremy Ruckert in a 7-on-7 drill . . .
Brady Cook is a great kid with tremendous character who works his tail off, but accuracy remains a bit of an issue for the former University of Missouri standout.
In a 7-on-7 drill, he had two passes go awry in a short period of time, first he was off-target to fullback Andrew Beck, and then he sailed a pass over the head of running back Chip Trayanum.
Now, it’s probably unfair to go too crazy about this stuff in spring camps, especially in a new offense with a lot of new players, but there is no doubt he needs to improve his accuracy. Inconsistent accuracy is a big reason he went undrafted out of college . . .
Geno Smith is very good at finding hot reads when blitzed, like on Wednesday when under quick pressure, lik when he hit Isaiah Davis underneath with a blitzer in a face.
June 18, 2026
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Friday.
