Record-breaking combine speed meets versatile blocking skills for Oregon star. This explosive tight end is turning heads, with one Super Bowl contender reportedly eyeing him.
Oregon Ducks tight end Kenyon Sadiq might be one of the top players in the 2026 NFL Draft.
However, as a tight end, he will likely be taken outside of the top 10 because league teams like to use those draft picks for premium positions like quarterback, offensive tackle, pass rusher, wide receiver, and cornerback.
Sadiq dominated the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Indiana, earlier this year. His 4.39 40-yard dash time broke the record for the fastest time by a tight end. It helped him grab attention with weeks to go before the draft.
Sadiq is fast, but he also has skills as a run blocker that could make him attractive to teams employing 12-personnel, which uses two tight ends.
Peter Schrager of ESPN thinks the Los Angeles Rams could use their first-round pick on Sadiq after trading back to the No. 16 pick (from the Detroit Lions).
"There's a lot of Sadiq intrigue in the Rams' building," Schrager wrote in his most recent mock draft. "They already have multiple contributing tight ends, but that depth chart could look different in a year -- especially since current TE1 Colby Parkinson is a free agent in 2027.
"Sadiq is an explosive pass catcher who could help Matthew Stafford in a key go-for-it year in L.A., and you know coach Sean McVay would figure out ways to get the ball in Sadiq's hands. This would be the second year in a row that the Rams took an Oregon tight end after going with Terrance Ferguson in Round 2 last April."
During an appearance on Good Morning Football, former NFL Pro Bowl tight end Delanie Walker suggested Sadiq could be dangerous at the NFL level if a team outs him in different positions.
“I think any team who gets him is going to have the ability to put him in any different positions: fullback, tight end, even putting him in the slot or putting him outside single receiver, getting him that matchup with a safety or smaller linebacker,” Walker said, via Sports Illustrated.
“The possibilities for him to touch the sky are going to be crazy.”
Sadiq would be a huge addition for a Rams team that's going all-in on a Super Bowl this offseason after trading for cornerback Trent McDuffie.
Rams head coach Sean McVay could creatively use the young tight end to exploit some mismatches in the secondary and help Stafford look like a young quarterback.