Mason Taylor was a slightly surprising early declaration for the 2025 NFL Draft. But after reading through his scouting report, should we really be surprised that he made the call to forego his senior season with the LSU Tigers?
Mason Taylor’s Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’5″
- Weight: 255
- Position: Tight End
- School: LSU
- Current Year: Junior
Taylor’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Competitiveness as a blocker shines through peripherals while watching LSU O-line and QB
- Does a nice job breaking down from motion to land cross-formation blocks
- Flexibility to absorb contact on cross-formation blocks versus large edge rushers
- Competes in pass pro with active hands and mirroring ability
- Survives here
- Shows wiggle and active hands against soft coverage defenders looking to “catch” him
- Allows him to stay on track and on time through stem
- Length and athletic ability allow him to seal an awesome rush lane for a 45-yard run early against Alabama
- Consistently flashes as a blocker in space
- Impressive mirroring, length, and strike accuracy
- Smooth athlete with impressive body control around the sidelines
- Burst and length to be a nice seam threat at the NFL level
- Flips head around quickly to locate the ball
- Finishes well around traffic and through contact
- Flashes blind-spot-attacking awareness on wheel routes against Cover 3 leverage
- Fights to get outside of peripheral and then stamp on brakes
- Outstanding feel as a blocker coming across the formation
- Quickly sees the situation and attacks the end man on the line of scrimmage or sneaks through the gap to reach second-level defenders
- Strike accuracy and grip strength/sustainment stand out big-time
Weaknesses
- Walked back by larger/more powerful edge rushers in the run game
- Not deceptive as a route runner
- Inefficient brakes to drive back to the QB
- Unimpressive use of a frame to create separation and shield defenders along route stem
- Natural anchor and explosiveness through contact as a blocker lacks
- Underwhelming use in passing game at LSU
- Most targets on flat routes
- Used as pass pro help often
Summary and Draft Projection
Taylor is the son of NFL Hall of Famer Jason Taylor. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into the important things.
So often, tight ends are used in niche roles at the college level. While that is not unlike the younger Taylor’s situation, his usage is quite different from the traditional early tight end declaration.
Projecting a tight end to the NFL level is often the most complex position to get right. Most are used as glorified receivers at the college level. They simply attempt to survive as blockers when forced to put their hand in the dirt. Early declarations, like Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin Jr., are the focal point of the passing attack while being moved around the formation.
Taylor is not. Taylor is a warrior. Taylor is used as a real tight end in the Tigers’ offense. He’s lost and forgotten within the walls of the tackle box (or slightly outside it, technically speaking).
In LSU’s offense, Taylor spent about 17% of his snaps in true pass protection, while many more reps involved chipping or checking and releasing into the flats. He spent nearly half of his time split between the slot and in-line. There are absolutely zero questions about his ability to block at an NFL level for the position because we so consistently witnessed it at the SEC level.
While nobody would mistake him for Trent Williams in pass protection, the sheer fact that he survived nearly 150 pass-blocking snaps over the past two seasons with only one sack and four pressures allowed on his ledger is outstanding. He consistently fought battles against some of the best pass rushers in the country and survived.
His natural length helps keep his hands active while anchoring down against long-arm rushes, and he’s oftentimes more fluid and explosive than the rushers he’s up against, so he maintains a good relationship with them.
If Taylor was actually used as a focal point in the LSU passing attack while also showing his ability in the run game and pass pro, he might have far more buzz than he currently does. Unfortunately, he was a complete afterthought in the passing game.
His hands are outstanding, and he displays impressive spatial awareness around the sideline. He’s not Fannin after the catch, but he has more than enough wiggle and explosiveness to make plays in space. Taylor currently doesn’t boast much regarding technical route running ability, but that could very well come in due time, given his natural athleticism.
Teams have also proven they don’t care much about TE production in college. If Taylor tests well at his size, he has a chance to be one of the first three or four players off the board at a position, boasting more high-end talent than we’ve seen it offer in years.