NFL draft analyst Todd McShay slams Ducks likely first-rounder

NFL draft projections from The Athletic and others have four Ducks taken in the first round next April but on his podcast analyst Todd McShay blasted one of them.

Perhaps trying overly hard while trying to make an independent gig work, the former ESPN reporter went after Kenyon Sadiq on a recent episode of his podcast, "The Todd McShay Show." He said scouts are down on the 20-year-old prospect, despite comparisons to Kyle Pitts, a John Mackey Award winner and a former first-rounder from Florida, drafted by the Falcons in 2021.

Speaking for the scouts, who normally like to work in secret, McShay said, “They’re disappointed in Sadiq. His route running has not evolved. He’s not separating and getting open. And when I say they, I’m saying NFL scouts."

"There are people in the Oregon building, I’m told, that are frustrated, while he is a great blocker, and he looks like this tough guy and effort, and program-type guy on the field on Saturdays. The contradiction is maybe the effort was a little bit better when he was tight end No. 2 last year.”

Despite the emphatic tone of this second-hand, ear to the ground in the shadows skullduggery it isn't particularly fair. Sadiq has been a devastating lead blocker for the Ducks and a big-play threat, the second-leading receiver on a loaded roster with 22 catches for 311 yards and five touchdowns, the five scores top among Webfoot receivers in their 8-1 start.

Sadiq has latched on to a chunk reception in five of Oregon's games, and he's done so despite taking some hard falls that have taken him out of the lineup.

On November 8 Dan Lanning told the Oregonian's James Crepea and the rest of the reporters, “Kenyon’s had lingering injuries since the Rutgers game where he makes a big catch in the end zone. We wanted to give him the ability to try to recover from that because he’s tried to practice and it hasn’t been what it needed to be.”

The story of his demise is more sensational if you leave that part out. At 6-3, 245 with 23 mph speed on the GPS, the junior from Idaho Falls, Idaho is a weapon like few tight ends in college football, a weapon that Will Stein and Dante Moore are still discovering how to fully use.

Though his status for tonight's game is as yet unrevealed, Sadiq's best games as a Duck could come in crucial portion of the season, something that will soar his draft stock to a place negative murmurings can't possibly reach.