![\"Kenyon](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2188795531-e1749431451835.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
University of Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq. <\/p>\n
The Baltimore Ravens<\/a> have seen a lot of success in recent years with their offense featuring 2 tight ends in Mark Andrews<\/a> and Isaiah Likely<\/a>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a yin and yang\/lightning and thunder<\/a> combo that defensive coordinators have found it difficult to game-plan for.<\/p>\n Likely went out the door for a massive free-agent contract with former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh on the New York Giants<\/a> after Baltimore signed the 31-year-old Andrews to a 3-year, $39 million contract extension at the end of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n Now, ESPN\u2019s Matt Miller predicts<\/a> 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<\/a> with the No. 14 overall pick.<\/p>\n \u201cGiving Lamar Jackson\u00a0the fastest tight end to ever test at the combine seems like a good idea, especially with\u00a0Isaiah Likely\u00a0departing\u00a0in free agency\u00a0and\u00a0Mark Andrews entering his age-31 season,\u201d Miller wrote. \u201cBesides 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Kenyon Sadiq Wows at NFL Scouting Combine<\/p>\n Sadiq turned in a front-to-back performance at the NFL<\/a> scouting combine that shot him up draft boards from a mid-to-late round pick to a possible Top 10 pick.<\/p>\n \u201cBlowing people away in interviews, like walking into interviews and explaining what everybody else\u2019s position is,\u201d\u00a0NFL Network\u2019s Mike Garofolo<\/a> said in a conversation with Philadelphia sports talk legend Anthony Gargano. \u201d \u2026 One guy said it was the best interview he\u2019d ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n Sadiq, 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, ran an incredible 4.39-second 40-yard dash \u2014 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.<\/p>\n \u201cKenyon\u00a0Sadiq\u00a0was blazing,\u201d\u00a0NFL Network\u2019s Ian Rapoport<\/a>\u00a0wrote on X.<\/p>\n Pre-Draft Evaluations Laud Kenyon Sadiq\u2019s Potential<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein<\/a>\u00a0compared Sadiq to\u00a0Arizona Cardinals<\/a>\u00a0tight end\u00a0Trey McBride<\/a>\u00a0in 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.<\/p>\n McBride, a 2nd round pick in the 2022 NFL draft<\/a>, signed a 4-year, $76 million contract extension before the 2025 season.<\/p>\n \u201cA versatile tight end with a shredded physique and alluring potential as a volume target, Sadiq\u2019s route tree will be full of branches,\u201d Zierlein wrote. \u201cHis athleticism and break quickness should allow him to uncover against man coverage on all three levels. He\u2019s 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 \u2026 He\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Ravens\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty University of Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq. The Baltimore Ravens have seen a lot of success in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2052],"tags":[184,117,2282,7,6,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-843028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-baltimore","9":"tag-baltimore-ravens","10":"tag-baltimoreravens","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116318684101913557","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843028","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=843028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}