Kenyon Sadiq
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University of Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq.
The Baltimore Ravens have seen a lot of success in recent years with their offense featuring 2 tight ends in Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely.
It’s been a yin and yang/lightning and thunder combo that defensive coordinators have found it difficult to game-plan for.
Likely went out the door for a massive free-agent contract with former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on the New York Giants after Baltimore signed the 31-year-old Andrews to a 3-year, $39 million contract extension at the end of the 2025 season.
Now, ESPN’s Matt Miller predicts the Ravens will find an upgrade replacement for Likely with their 1st round pick in the 2026 NFL draft, where he has them slotted to take Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq with the No. 14 overall pick.
“Giving Lamar Jackson the fastest tight end to ever test at the combine seems like a good idea, especially with Isaiah Likely departing in free agency and Mark Andrews entering his age-31 season,” Miller wrote. “Besides his 4.39 speed, Sadiq is an elite red zone threat who had eight touchdowns in 2025. His effort and upside in the run game as a blocker makes him a true blue-chip tight end prospect for a team that badly needs another threat in the passing game.”
Kenyon Sadiq Wows at NFL Scouting Combine
Sadiq turned in a front-to-back performance at the NFL scouting combine that shot him up draft boards from a mid-to-late round pick to a possible Top 10 pick.
“Blowing people away in interviews, like walking into interviews and explaining what everybody else’s position is,” NFL Network’s Mike Garofolo said in a conversation with Philadelphia sports talk legend Anthony Gargano. ” … One guy said it was the best interview he’d ever done.”
Sadiq, 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, ran an incredible 4.39-second 40-yard dash — the fastest time for a tight end since 2006. He also registered a 43.5-inch vertical leap and a broad jump of 11 feet, 1 inch.
“Kenyon Sadiq was blazing,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote on X.
Pre-Draft Evaluations Laud Kenyon Sadiq’s Potential
Sadiq was an All-Big Ten selection in 2025 and named the Big Ten Tight End of the Year with 51 receptions for 560 yards and 8 touchdowns before he left school with 1 year of eligibility remaining to declare himself eligible for the draft.
NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein compared Sadiq to Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride in his pre-draft evaluation. McBride, a 2-time Pro Bowler, earned NFL All-Pro honors for the 1st time in 2025 after he set the NFL single-season record for receptions by a tight end with 126 catches to go with 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns.
McBride, a 2nd round pick in the 2022 NFL draft, signed a 4-year, $76 million contract extension before the 2025 season.
“A versatile tight end with a shredded physique and alluring potential as a volume target, Sadiq’s route tree will be full of branches,” Zierlein wrote. “His athleticism and break quickness should allow him to uncover against man coverage on all three levels. He’s talented after the catch, with the ability to make things easier for play-callers and quarterbacks looking to move the sticks. He has the body control and hand strength to win contested catches … He’s adequate as a blocker, giving good effort in-line and locating and landing on linebackers as a move blocker. Teams looking to diversify their passing game options with a talented pass-catching tight end could make Sadiq a priority.”