{"id":680911,"date":"2026-01-16T04:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/680911\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T04:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:07:13","slug":"oregon-te-kenyon-sadiq-s-dillon-thieneman-to-enter-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/680911\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq, S Dillon Thieneman To Enter 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oregon no doubt breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday when quarterback Dante Moore<\/a> announced<\/a> he\u2019d stay in school in 2026. However, a Ducks team that went 13-2 in 2025 and contended for a national championship will lose other key contributors. That includes tight end Kenyon Sadiq<\/a> and safety Dillon Thieneman<\/a>. Both players will enter the 2026 NFL Draft, Pete Thamel of ESPN<\/a> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sadiq, a three-year veteran at Oregon, broke out as Moore\u2019s favorite target in 2025. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound junior paced Ducks pass catchers in receptions (51) and touchdowns (eight), and he finished second in yards (560). After leading college football tight ends in TDs, Sadiq earned First-Team All-Big Ten and Big Ten Tight End of the Year honors.<\/p>\n

While the draft is still over three months away, Sadiq looks like a good bet to come off the board in the first round. ESPN\u2019s Mel Kiper<\/a> ranks Sadiq as the ninth-best prospect and No. 1 tight end in the class, writing that \u201che\u2019s nearly impossible to match against because of his quickness and size.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, according to Dane Brugler of The Athletic<\/a>, \u201cNFL teams believe [Sadiq] has the talent to be a top-10 pick.\u201d That\u2019s rare for the position, as Kyle Pitts<\/a> (fourth overall pick, 2021), Kellen Winslow II<\/a> (sixth, 2004), Vernon Davis<\/a> (sixth, 2006), T.J. Hockenson<\/a> (eighth, 2019), Eric Ebron<\/a> (10th, 2014) and Colston Loveland<\/a> (10th, 2025) are the only tight ends who have gone inside the top 10.<\/p>\n

Thieneman may have to wait longer than his teammate to hear his name called in April, but he\u2019s still a projected top 50 selection, Thamel notes. Kiper ranks Thieneman third among draft-eligible safeties, trailing only Ohio State\u2019s Caleb Downs<\/a> and Pitt\u2019s Kyle Louis<\/a>, while Brugler lauds the junior\u2019s \u201cman-coverage skills and run-stopping ability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thieneman is firmly on the NFL radar after an impressive three-year stint with the Ducks. He earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year and third-team All-America honors in 2023 after piling up 106 tackles and six interceptions. Thieneman didn\u2019t intercept any passes in a 104-tackle sophomore campaign, but he added 96 more tackles and another two INTs in 2025. The 21-year-old was a first-team All-American and a first-team All-Big Ten selection in his final season with the Ducks. That stellar performance boosted his stock heading into the draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oregon no doubt breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday when quarterback Dante Moore announced he\u2019d stay in school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4955,19134,7,28626,6,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-680911","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-dillon-thieneman","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kenyon-sadiq","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-nfl-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115902811708975883","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680911","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=680911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}