Frank Reich admitted the obvious: Rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq’s extremely limited training camp is going to impact how much the Jets can use him, at least early on. 

The No. 16 pick in April’s NFL draft, Sadiq took part in the first three practices of training camp. He has been inactive since due to a setback from a spring hernia operation. 

“There’s no doubt we’ll scale it back. We’ll have to work him in slowly,” Reich, the new Jets offensive coordinator, said Tuesday. “Can’t rush it, as much as we would like to. The good thing is he’s very smart and we’ve said it all before. He’ll be as ready as you can be, but there’s nothing like practice.” 

When Sadiq didn’t practice Aug. 3, the Jets called it a “maintenance” day. It was obviously much more significant than that. He didn’t practice the next day, and coach Aaron Glenn said it was a “little setback.” Sadiq worked with trainers off to the side Tuesday. 

The hope remains that the gifted Sadiq can be a major part of the offense. It just won’t happen nearly as soon as the Jets planned. Last year at Oregon, the 6-foot-3, 241-pound Sadiq caught 51 passes for 560 yards and eight touchdowns. 

The preseason kicking competition is over for now. 

Jason Sanders, who missed all of last season and was cut by the Giants earlier this year, has won the job over Cade York, special teams coordinator Chris Banjo said. Gang Green waived York later in the day.

“We feel really, really good about what Jason is and where we are with him right now,” Banjo said. “The experience he’s kinda had in our division, kicking in our division.”

With NFL rosters needing to get trimmed to 53 players by Sunday, plenty of kickers will become available. The Jets could always bring in another option even if Sanders has technically won the job. Until the return of Nick Folk last year — he was 28-for-29 on field goals and hit all of his extra point attempts — Gang Green stumbled through years of turnover at the position.

But for the moment, at least, the role belongs to the 30-year-old Sanders, who has recovered from the hip injury that caused him to miss all of 2025. Sanders was the Dolphins kicker from 2018-24. He went 37-for-41 in 2024. 

“You look at his pedigree, what he’s been able to do in big moments — like I said, in our division,” Banjo said. “You get to be around that kinda all offseason, throughout training camp, throughout this evaluation process, it starts to build more confidence and more conviction for who he is as a player.”