Jets Go Pass-Catcher Twice in First Round: Sadiq at 16, Cooper at 30
The New York Jets used two of their three first-round selections Thursday night to reshape the passing game for quarterback Geno Smith, drafting Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq with the 16th overall pick and trading back into the round to take Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. at No. 30.
Sadiq was the first tight end off the board in the 2026 NFL Draft. At 21, he goes to New York with the fastest 40-yard dash by a tight end in NFL Combine history at 4.39 seconds, to go with a 43.5-inch vertical. His 2025 season at Oregon produced 51 receptions for 560 yards and eight touchdowns across 14 games. The eight scores led all FBS tight ends. He was named the Big Ten Kwalick-Clark Tight End of the Year, earned second-team All-American honors, and was a finalist for the John Mackey Award. The pick added a tight end on top of last year’s second-round selection of Mason Taylor, giving new offensive coordinator Frank Reich the option to run meaningful two-tight end sets alongside Taylor and veteran Jeremy Ruckert.
“I play fast, and I play hard,” Sadiq said. “I’m going to hit someone, I’m going to run past someone, and I’m going to jump over someone.”
The Jets then traded back into Round 1 at pick No. 30. They sent picks 33 and 179 to the San Francisco 49ers and selected Cooper Jr. out of Indiana. The move gives New York a fifth-year option on the receiver through 2030. Cooper Jr., 22, was a key piece of Indiana’s 16-0 national championship run, catching passes from Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who went No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Raiders earlier in the evening.
Cooper Jr. caught 69 passes for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2025 across 16 games, with 14 starts. His 13 receiving scores were tied for third-most in FBS. He was a second-team All-Big Ten selection and closed his Indiana career with 115 career receptions for 1,798 yards and 22 receiving touchdowns. The 6-foot, 199-pound receiver is expected to work alongside Garrett Wilson and out of the slot, where he took most of his snaps in 2025.
“I had an idea, for sure,” Cooper said of Jets interest, “but after the 16th pick, I thought that opportunity was out the window. But I’m definitely glad it came back.”
The Jets opened their draft at No. 2 by taking Texas Tech edge rusher David Bailey to fortify Aaron Glenn’s defense. With Sadiq and Cooper Jr., they turned their attention to an offense that finished near the bottom of the league in scoring in 2025. Smith, who was acquired from the Las Vegas Raiders in March and returns to the franchise that originally drafted him in 2013, now has running back Breece Hall, Wilson, Taylor, Sadiq, and Cooper Jr. to work with as the core of the skill group.
The pick at 16 was itself a product of the midseason trade that sent cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts finished 8-9, sending the selection to New York at a higher slot than projected at the time of the deal. The Jets also hold a separate first-round pick in 2027 from that same trade package.
Rounds 2 and 3 resume Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern in Pittsburgh. Rounds 4 through 7 run Saturday. The NFL has not released the 2026 regular-season schedule, so the Jets’ Week 1 opponent is not yet known.