{"id":258931,"date":"2025-08-03T16:30:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T16:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/258931\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T16:30:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T16:30:12","slug":"rookie-tight-end-mason-taylor-son-of-hall-of-fame-pass-rusher-shining-at-jets-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/258931\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie tight end Mason Taylor, son of Hall of Fame pass rusher, shining at Jets camp"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. \u2013 Mason Taylor remembers running around the fields as a wide-eyed kid at New York Jets training camp, visiting his famous father<\/a> and rooting him on at games.<\/p>\n

He’s back, 15 years later. And now, it’s his turn.<\/p>\n

The rookie tight end, son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Taylor, has been one of the standout performers through the Jets’ first nine camp practices. Taylor, a second-round pick out of LSU<\/a>, is making plays and impressing his coaches and teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cMason, he doesn\u2019t talk a lot, he does work a lot, though,\u201d quarterback Justin Fields said. \u201cFrom the moment he got here, he\u2019s been working, his head down working. He doesn\u2019t make really any mental mistakes, at least from what I\u2019ve seen. He\u2019s a great route runner, he\u2019s smooth, has natural hands, so he\u2019s been great so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old Taylor, whose uncle is Hall of Famer Zach Thomas, received a text from his father the night before camp opened, offering him some sound advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally just stay where your feet are,\u201d Taylor recalled. \u201cI mean, we always say that in our family \u2014 day by day, you know, attack the day, get better every single day and really just be where your feet are. Don\u2019t look into the future, don\u2019t look into the past and just take advantage of every moment you get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Taylor would certainly know all about that.<\/p>\n

Recognized as one of the NFL’s greatest pass rushers with 139 1\/2 sacks, the elder Taylor made a name for himself during 11 outstanding seasons playing for Miami and then one in Washington before joining Rex Ryan’s Jets in 2010.<\/p>\n

New York was one of the league’s best teams that season, reaching the AFC championship game \u2014 one win away from the Super Bowl. The Jets’ kicker was Nick Folk, who just re-signed with the team<\/a> \u2014 and now has the distinction of having been teammates with both Jason and Mason Taylor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a crazy, crazy world,\u201d Mason Taylor said with a big smile. \u201cI mean, it’s crazy to think about and now that he’s on my team, it’s a blessing, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor is in position to have a major role on the Jets’ offense as a rookie. He was listed Sunday on the team’s first unofficial depth chart<\/a> as a backup to Jeremy Ruckert, but the 6-foot-5, 251-pound Taylor is expected to see his fair share of snaps \u2014 especially if he continues with his impressive summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe receiving skills, listen, that doesn\u2019t surprise me, I know he can do that,\u201d coach Aaron Glenn said. “His blocking, I know he can block, but I didn\u2019t think it was going to be this good. So, I\u2019m excited to see how he matures when it comes to camp on how we want to do things as far as that is concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

In three seasons at LSU, Taylor had 129 catches for 1,308 yards and six TDs, establishing himself as the most productive tight end in school history and one of the top players at his position in the country.<\/p>\n

The Jets parted ways this winter with Tyler Conklin, their top pass-catching tight end, by allowing him to leave in free agency. So, New York was in need of a complement to wide receiver Garrett Wilson and provide Fields another reliable outlet in the passing game. New general manager Darren Mougey jumped on the chance to bring in Taylor, who has made that selection look smart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s been pretty good,\u201d Taylor said of his progress. \u201cThings have been flying around in the installs and everything like that, but I think I\u2019ve kind of grasped onto it pretty quickly. And with the help of my teammates and coaches, I’ve been getting on the playbook pretty fast.”<\/p>\n

Taylor acknowledged that the little details of the offense \u2014 how many steps to take in a route, where you’re supposed to be in position on a given play \u2014 have been the biggest things to which he has had to adapt.<\/p>\n

He has also put extra emphasis on his blocking, working on his hand placement and pad level as he aims to be an all-around tight end in the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see growth and development out of Mason,\u201d offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said. \u201cHe\u2019s on the path to becoming what we expected and hoped he could be. And he\u2019s done a really nice job this camp in the pass game and in the run game as well. So, again, daily improvement by him, and we\u2019re excited to see where that continues to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLORHAM PARK, N.J. \u2013 Mason Taylor remembers running around the fields as a wide-eyed kid at New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[1585,1469,7,2310,687,2314,226,493,280,1917,255,2321,2097,6,10554,26061,9,2312],"class_list":{"0":"post-258931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-aaron-glenn","9":"tag-darren-mougey","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-garrett-wilson","12":"tag-jason-taylor","13":"tag-jeremy-ruckert","14":"tag-jets","15":"tag-justin-fields","16":"tag-mason-taylor","17":"tag-new-york","18":"tag-new-york-jets","19":"tag-newyork","20":"tag-newyorkjets","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-nick-folk","23":"tag-rex-ryan","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-tyler-conklin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}