EXCLUSIVE: Mason Taylor Dishes on Return to Jets After Injury

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- When Mason Taylor first entered the 2026 offseason, the expectation was that he would take a significant jump in his second season. After all, this was a player who was not only a second-round pick in 2025, but finished in the top two with the New York Jets in receptions and receiving yards.

Then the injury bug hit him.

As it did to start his rookie campaign, Taylor suffered a thumb injury that kept him out for the last two weeks of the season. New York lost both of those games, and currently sits at 1-3 on the year. But with Taylor set to be back from his injury on Sunday, the team's expectations for him have not changed.

"Just because things happened with him (Taylor) within this season as far as injuries, that doesn't mean that my expectations have dropped at all," Jets head coach Aaron Glenn said. "He's a really good player, so I look forward to seeing how he progresses as he gets back out there."

As Taylor gears up for Sunday, though, one constant message has stayed true to him since he got to the NFL.

Taylor returns from injury

It was early in Glenn's press conference Friday morning. The Jets head coach announced that Taylor would be back after a two-game absence. Speaking to Jets on SI after practice, the second-year tight end's smile was evident.

He was back doing what he always wanted.

"I mean, I'm excited to get back out. It was tough watching the team not be on the field with them," Taylor said. "So definitely looking forward to it."

Taylor joins a Jets offense in desperate need of his talent. While the emergence of rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq has been celebrated, and with Garrett Wilson remaining an elite player, the Jets have also been ravaged by injuries.

Going into Sunday, the team will be without Breece Hall, Omar Cooper Jr. Adonai Mitchell, and Dylan Parham. That's a third of New York's starting offense being unable to go. Taylor will be an instant weapon—one that has plenty of chemistry with the quarterback as well.

“We put a lot of work in the offseason, he was always willing to get out there, it was super hot, but he didn’t mind it,” Jets quarterback Geno Smith said of Taylor in the offseason. “South Florida kid, seemed to be that way. But he’s a guy who I think is going to be a great player in this league for a long time.”

Things are different than when Taylor first went down, though. And while the group is happy with each other, New York's logjam at tight end means the LSU product will need to compete for snaps and targets at his own position.

Finding new role in different pecking order

When the Jets brought in Taylor, the hope was that he would be the organization's starting tight end for years to come. A year later, and New York drafted another tight end, this one in the first round and with more athleticism than the son of the Hall-of-Fame edge rusher.

Kenyon Sadiq's role on the team is growing, especially after the first 100-yard performance from a tight end in over a decade for Gang Green against Detroit two weeks ago. Watching from the sideline couldn't have been easy for Taylor.

But there isn't even a remote sense of jealousy coming from him.

“I think it's awesome to see what he's done, and I know he's going to keep doing that," Taylor said. "We all have certain roles to play. I'm going to go fit my role in some way.”

New York drafted Sadiq with the hope that he and Taylor would form the best 1-2 tight end duo in football. Injuries have kept the two off the field together, but there's hope that, with Taylor back, a new dimension of the Jets' offense can be brought to the field.

As long as Taylor heeds the words of both his father and coach.

"Just stay the course," Taylor said. "I know AG says that a lot. Stay the course. Don't waver. So that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to flinch, and I'm going to go out there on Sunday and play like I've never been out."

If Taylor is healthy, he will change how the Browns attack the offense on Sunday. It will be up to him to prove he is worthy of a return to his starting spot.

And worthy of getting plenty of targets as well.

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