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Kenyon Sadiq Had Such a Good Combine that He May Have Played Himself Out of the Eagles’ Draft Range
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Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq killed it at the combine:
This is somewhat annoying since the Eagles need a tight end and Sadiq had been mocked to the Birds at 23 somewhat consistently before the combine. Dallas Goedert is out of contract, and that’s a weird situation in itself because he took a pay cut to return after the Super Bowl and then had a brilliant season with a career-high 60 receptions and career-high 11 touchdowns. He was one of the few players on the offensive side of the ball who overperformed relative to expectations in what amounted to a really underwhelming title defense.
Nonetheless, Goedert is 31 now, and the Birds need to find their next Goedert, Zach Ertz, Chad Lewis, etc. They need a franchise tight end. They also need a franchise right tackle to take over for Lane Johnson, who is 35 and only played 10 games this past season.
Sadiq, no relation to Raphael, is coming off a year in which he had 51 receptions for 560 yards and eight touchdowns. He added nine catches for 51 yards in the two playoff games against Texas Tech and Indiana.
At NFL.com, the reliable Lance Zierlein described Sadiq thusly:
A versatile tight end with a shredded physique and alluring potential as a volume target, Sadiq’s route tree will be full of branches. His athleticism and break quickness should allow him to uncover against man coverage on all three levels. He’s 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 but will occasionally allow balls to hit the ground on lower-difficulty plays. He’s 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.
Interestingly enough, Zierlein mocks Sadiq to the Eagles at 23, even after the Combine. But SI is picking the Chiefs to select him 9th overall as a Travis Kelce replacement. Jordan Reid at ESPN has him going the Rams at 13th overall. Mike Renner at CBS has Sadiq to the Birds while Ryan Wilson has him to the Bucs at 15th. Nate Davis at USA Today also has Sadiq 15th to the Bucs.
If the Eagles do like Sadiq, they might be in a position to trade into the teens to get him, otherwise Utah tackle Caleb Lomu might be there for selection. Either way, the dude is a stud and he had an amazing Combine, so he’s shot further up the board than originally expected. It makes things a little trickier here. Kalshi has Sadiq listed with a 34% chance to go inside of the top 10, so it’s a market we’re going to keep an eye on here for the next couple of weeks.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com