Many things have subtly changed for the Jets' second-year TE Mason Taylor. One of the most significant is something that many NFL rookies face -- a college season that spills into the league's offseason and then a smack in the face when September rolls around and it gets real. Fast.
"I mean, getting your body right in the offseason was the biggest thing for me," Taylor told team reporter Eric Allen and analyst Quincy Enunwa during a "Training Camp Live" appearance. "I mean, going from the Senior Bowl to the draft process to rookie minicamp to OTAs. I mean, it's just a whirlwind of a bunch of things. So getting that time off to spend with your family and then get your body back into shape was good for mentally and physically."
Taylor spent some of the "down time" working out in South Florida with QB Geno Smith and now he's a part of a stacked tight ends room, which includes first-round draft pick Kenyon Sadiq (who has been limited in camp after a hernia operation), veteran Jeremy Ruckert and the imposing Jelani Woods (6-7, 253).
"We have a great relationship, all of us," Taylor, 22, said. "We're super close and I think that speaks volumes of everyone in that room, the character of everyone in that room. And we come out here to work and push each other every single day. Yeah, we make plays and we hype each other up. We're being competitive."
He added: "We have so much talent in that room, and that's [OC Frank] Reich's job to kind of see what everyone's roles can be to help his team."
HC Aaron Glenn and Reich have spoken at length about the myriad options open to them with the quartet of talented and versatile tight ends. There have been hints of using two or three (more?) TEs on the same play.
"We don't have 11 starters on offense, we got like 15," Reich said, speaking generally about his skill-position players. "That's the way I look at it, or however many it is. It's not 11, I promise you. I know that's all they let on the field at one time, but us as a coaching staff, we got more than 11 starters, and so we're going to play them all, and want to play them all, and mix it up. That just just brings good energy. Everybody's in it."
In his 13 games last season, Taylor, with Garrett Wilson out injured, led the team in receptions (44) and targets (65) for 389 yards (8.4 per catch) and a single TD, caught on an option pass from RB Breece Hall against the Bengals. Taylor's season came to an end when he sustained a neck injury in Week 14, missing the final four games of the season.
Last Friday night at Pittsburgh, Taylor was in the thick of the Jets' opening drive when Smith completed all 7 of his pass attempts and led the Green & White on a tidy 10-play scoring drive to open the game. On the drive, Taylor and Smith collaborated on a 10-yard completion on a third-and-9 play to keep the drive alive. Four plays later Woods caught a pass and rumbled into the end zone.
"It was definitely fun to see," Taylor said. "And Geno led us. We had a great long drive, we made plays, converted third downs. Everything you wanted on the first drive, and yeah, it is preseason. But going out there from going against your team in practice every single day to doing that against another team is definitely important."
