Player
Mason Taylor
TE · Jets
Taylor is carving out a rare role for a Jets Day-2 rookie: genuine TE1 usage on a roster-building offense. The historical comparison shows this isn't just opportunity-padding — only Keller's 2008 campaign exceeded him in catches on this franchise, and Keller was a first-round pick.
44 catches, 369 yards as a rookie — already a top-3 receiving total for a Jets first-year TE all-time.
TrendJets rookie TEs ranked by receiving yards
| Rk | Player | Year | Rec | Yds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dustin Keller | 2008 | 48 | 535 |
| 2 | Chris Herndon | 2018 | 39 | 502 |
| 3 | Mason Taylor | 2025 | 44 | 369 |
| 4 | Jace Amaro | 2014 | 38 | 345 |
| 5 | Anthony Becht | 2000 | 16 | 144 |
Through 13 games, Taylor's already 3rd on the all-time Jets rookie-TE receiving list — and his 44 receptions are 2nd on that list, behind only Keller's 48. He's not pacing as a yardage monster (8.4 yards per catch is checkdown-heavy), but the volume is real.
For a tight end whose dad (Jason Taylor) is in the Hall of Fame for sacking quarterbacks, Mason's rookie route is the opposite kind of football: catch-everything-thrown chain mover.
Why it matters. Taylor is carving out a rare role for a Jets Day-2 rookie: genuine TE1 usage on a roster-building offense. The historical comparison shows this isn't just opportunity-padding — only Keller's 2008 campaign exceeded him in catches on this franchise, and Keller was a first-round pick.
Week 5 vs Dallas: 9 catches for 67 yards on 12 targets — his lone double-digit-target game and the peak of his rookie year.
SplitMason Taylor 2025 game log
| Wk | Opp | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PIT | 1 | 1 | 20 | 0 |
| 2 | BUF | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 3 | TB | 6 | 4 | 18 | 0 |
| 4 | MIA | 7 | 5 | 65 | 0 |
| 5 | DAL | 12 | 9 | 67 | 0 |
| 6 | DEN | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 7 | CAR | 5 | 3 | 31 | 0 |
| 8 | CIN | 8 | 5 | 34 | 1 |
| 10 | CLE | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 11 | NE | 4 | 4 | 30 | 0 |
| 12 | BAL | 5 | 3 | 21 | 0 |
| 13 | ATL | 4 | 2 | 21 | 0 |
| 14 | MIA | 8 | 5 | 51 | 0 |
His Week 5 vs Dallas line — 12 targets, 9 catches, 67 yards — was the rookie peak, more than doubling his next-highest target total. Justin Fields leaned on him as the short-area valve, and Taylor delivered a 75% catch rate.
The Cincinnati game (Week 8) produced his first NFL TD, capping a 5-catch, 34-yard outing. Outside those two peaks, his usage is modest but consistent — 11 of 13 games with at least one reception.
Why it matters. The target spike in Week 5 shows the ceiling when the scheme funnels volume to Taylor — 12 targets from a short-ADOT QB is rare territory for any rookie TE. The consistency across 11 of 13 games (no goose eggs) signals he's a trusted checkdown even in low-target weeks, which is the foundation of a high-floor TE role.
5.7 yards per target — lowest of any TE with 60+ targets in 2025, including veterans Travis Kelce and George Kittle.
Rare2025 TEs (60+ targets): yards per target
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Yds/Tgt | ADOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason Taylor | 65 | 44 | 369 | 5.7 | 5.8 |
| Jake Ferguson | 102 | 82 | 600 | 5.9 | 4.7 |
| Mark Andrews | 70 | 48 | 422 | 6.0 | 7.3 |
| Evan Engram | 76 | 50 | 461 | 6.1 | 4.4 |
| Travis Kelce | 108 | 76 | 851 | 7.9 | 6.8 |
| George Kittle | 69 | 57 | 628 | 9.1 | 6.7 |
Taylor's 5.7 yards per target is the lowest of any TE with 60+ targets in 2025 — below Jake Ferguson (5.9), below even the short-route specialists like Evan Engram (6.1). His ADOT of 5.8 yards means the ball is thrown short, and he is barely adding any yards after contact.
This is the trade-off of his role: high catch rate (67.7%), but almost zero run-after-catch production. He's a chain-mover who turns short completions into modest gains, not a separator who breaks tackles.
Why it matters. Taylor's anomalously low yds/target reveals that he is operating at essentially zero YAC — his actual receiving yards (369) are nearly identical to his total air yards (375). For a rookie to sustain 44 catches at this depth of target signals the Jets are using him as a built-in safety valve, not a weapon. That role has a clear Year-2 upside if his ADOT rises with confidence or scheme change.
First NFL TD in Week 8 vs Cincinnati — 28 years after dad Jason Taylor's 1997 NFL debut, both Taylor men now on NFL stat sheets.
MilestoneMason caught his first NFL touchdown in Week 8 vs the Bengals — 5 receptions, 34 yards, 1 TD. His father Jason Taylor entered the NFL in 1997 with the Miami Dolphins and became one of the great pass-rushers in league history, finishing with 139.5 career sacks and a Hall of Fame induction in 2017. Mason, drafted 42nd overall in 2025 out of LSU, is now the second Taylor on an NFL stat sheet — 28 years after his father's first game.
Zach Thomas, Mason's uncle (Jason's brother-in-law), is also a Hall of Famer — a rare family with two Canton members from the same generation. Mason is the third member of that family tree to reach the NFL.
Why it matters. The 28-year span between father's debut and son's first touchdown underscores how unusually young Jason Taylor was when he started a family — Mason was born in 2004, Jason's peak years. The multigenerational Canton connection (Jason Taylor + Zach Thomas) makes this one of the most decorated NFL family lineages in the modern era, and Mason's rookie production gives it a legitimate on-field continuation.
Taylor is the Jets' clear TE1 — 65 targets in 13 games vs 29 for the entire rest of the TE room.
ComparisonJets 2025 TE room
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mason Taylor | 65 | 44 | 369 |
| Jeremy Ruckert | 29 | 23 | 179 |
| Stone Smartt | 9 | 7 | 52 |
| Jelani Woods | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Taylor is already the engine of New York's tight-end room. His 65 targets more than double Ruckert's 29 — and Ruckert was the holdover starter coming into the year. The volume share isn't a fluke; it survived the Jets cycling through Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor, and Brady Cook at quarterback across 18 weeks.
For a rookie TE on a rebuilding offense, owning 64% of the position's target share across three starting QBs is the Year-2-breakout setup.
Why it matters. Taylor's target dominance is notable precisely because it held across a revolving QB room. Three different starters — Fields, Tyrod Taylor, and Cook — all trusted him at roughly the same rate. That cross-QB consistency signals he is scheme-embedded, not QB-dependent, which is the most durable form of target share heading into Year 2.
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