Mason

Taylor

Taylor is firmly on track to play in Week 9 against the Chiefs. He will operate as the team’s top tight end, keeping intriguing rookie Kenyon Sadiq in the TE2 tier.

It’s likely a maintenance day for Taylor, who tallied three catches on five targets in Week 8. He has been running ahead of rookie Kenyon Sadiq in recent weeks, though his own fantasy has been hit or miss. Taylor has been held under 40 yards in three of his past four appearances. He erupted for 62 yards and two scores in the fourth. Barring a setback in practice, Taylor will be a low-end TE2 for Week 9.

Taylor’s five targets were third on the team behind Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell, while fellow seam stretcher Kenyon Sadiq mustered only two looks. Taylor has become a weekly volume presence in an offense that attempts a lot of passes, but he has not established a particularly high floor while his spiked week odds remain practically nonexistent. He’s a TE2 by the letter of the law but not one we would be looking to start in Week 9 against the Chiefs.

Taylor got off to a hot start on National Tight Ends Day by mossing Dolphins cornerback Jason Marshall Jr in the end zone. Not content with just one score, Taylor double-dipped with a leaping touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter. He also scored the two-point conversion after the play. Taylor is running well ahead of first-round rookie Kenyon Sadiq right now and there’s no reason to expect anything different in Week 8 versus the Raiders. Taylor will be in the TE2 mix next week.

Taylor is now up to 7/57 in two games since returning from his thumb injury. First-round rookie Kenyon Sadiq, who missed most of Week 5 with a concussion, is 3/15 during the same timespan. This Jets tight end targets battle figures to oscillate back and forth, but Taylor is the preferred option for the time being. It’s still not resulting in more than desperation TE2 value.

The good news is that Sadiq was able to practice in a limited capacity on Wednesday. Sadiq suffered the head injury in Week 5 against Cleveland and did not return to action. Mason Taylor led the team’s tight ends with a 59 percent route rate against the Browns, catching all three of his targets for 23 yards. If Sadiq remains in the protocol tomorrow, he would be a long shot to play in Week 6. Taylor in that case would be a desperation streaming option in 12-team leagues.

Active for the first time since Week 2, Taylor caught the second most balls on the team as Kenyon Sadiq departed with a third quarter concussion. Those are awful developments for Sadiq managers, but almost certainly not enough to create TE2 value for Taylor, even if Sadiq misses Week 6 against the Patriots.

Taylor’s return could be problematic for rookie TE Kenyon Sadiq. Sadiq posted a 7/105/1 receiving line two weeks ago before goose-egging last week. Taylor is not a serious receiving threat, but he can eat into Sadiq’s snap share. Sadiq likely remains a viable TE1, but his volatility just increased a tad.

Hall was initially mentioned as being week-to-week when he was diagnosed with his quad injury, so he was never really considered a candidate to play in Week 4 despite the team waiting until the end of the week to rule him out. With Hall out, the Jets will look to Braelon Allen to handle most of the backfield duties. Allen will profile as a solid RB2 candidate with a chance for more upside in what could be a high-volume day against the Bears. In addition to Hall, the Jets also ruled out OG Dylan Parham (knee), TE Mason Taylor (thumb), and LB Kiko Mauigoa (quad) for Week 4.

Taylor was sidelined all of last week and, so far, all of this week with the thumb injury. He’d need to mount a major comeback on Friday to get on to the questionable line.