When the New York Jets were on the clock at pick number seven in the 2025 NFL Draft, they had a choice to make between the offensive tackle, and the do-it-all tight end. Like the year before, the Jets chose to go with the offensive line. Unlike last year, the Jets had a plan in place to make sure the position wasn’t ignored.
In the second round, the Jets took tight end Mason Taylor out of LSU. The pick earned universal praise from NFL executives and pundits alike. Execs think he can start right away. “Big fan of Mason Taylor’s game,” one said. “If I were Indy, I would have waited and taken Mason Taylor in the second round instead of taking Tyler Warren in Round 1.
“I just think in the NFL, unless you are a Gronk, a Kittle or someone that can play big at the catch point and win 50-50s at a high rate, you have to be able to separate as a pass catcher. Taylor can do that.”
Taylor is an Aaron Glenn type of player as far as we can tell. He isn’t worried about the periphery things like his number. He just wants to play football.
"I'm here to play football, it's not about a number - whatever number they assign me, just go play ball"
Mason Taylor says he was assigned number 46 by the Jets pic.twitter.com/zuPfKy8Faz— Jets Videos (@snyjets) May 9, 2025
Zack Rosenblatt of the Athletic put out an article comparing the 2024 team to the 2025 team. And under “tight end” he gave the edge to the 2025 Jets. “Tyler Conklin was a solid performer and important locker-room presence who was affected negatively by quarterback issues as much as anyone,” Rosenblatt wrote. “But Taylor, the second-round rookie, has the potential to step in right away as the No. 2 or 3 target for Fields.”
Really? We think that Taylor can step in on day one and already be better than Tyler Coklin? Tyler Conklin is a professional tight end. He does everything well and is a fantastic locker room presence. And we believe that a second-round rookie is going to step in and be better? Why? Because Justin Fields isn’t accurate enough or good enough to throw to anyone but the tight end and the Jets aren’t talented enough to have anyone who could possibly be better than the second rounder?
There is a reason Taylor was available in the second round after two tight ends went in the first round. Taylor’s best game in college he had 88 receiving yards. In a wide-open offense at LSU, Taylor averaged 34 yards per game. In 38 college games he caught a total of six touchdowns.
I’m not trying to crush the kid; I’m simply pointing out that we need to lower our expectations of what he is and what he can be in the first year of a remade offense with a terrible QB. Jets fans tend to get really high on certain players in the offseason and then crush them when they can’t live up to them right away.
The son of former (cough) Jets’ edge rusher, Jason Taylor (Taylor spent a majority of his career tormenting the Jets but one season in Gotham, and suddenly we are treating Taylor like Darrelle Revis, but I digress). “There’s high expectations, for sure, just because of the last name,” Taylor said, via Dennis Waszak of the Associated Press. “But I mean, when people say, like, ‘Oh, let him have his shine,’ you know, ‘Stop saying his dad’s name,’ I mean, I love it. We’re family.”
Taylor is a nice player. Please do not read this and think that I don’t think Taylor is a good football player worthy of taking in the second round. But we need to pump the breaks on our expectations for year one.
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