NFL Draft
12/26/24
6 min read
Mason Taylor 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For LSU Tigers TE
Height: 6050 (unofficial)
Weight: 255lbs (unofficial)
Year: Junior
Pro Comparison: Tucker Kraft
Scouting Overview
LSU Tigers tight end Mason Taylor projects as an impactful receiving threat at the NFL level. Taylor offers fluidity at plus size and sure hands, which should allow him to be an authentic matchup problem for the blend of linebackers and safeties he will catch in coverage while running routes.
Taylor plays at nearly a 50/50 split of in-line and slot assignments — a testament to his versatility at one of the more challenging positions to be diverse. Taylor offers effective run-after-catch and contested-catch ability for receiving in space and traffic, respectively, and his growth as a downfield receiver this season bodes well for his impact potential as a long-term developmental starter.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Possesses good body control for his stature and is a plus mover in space to help create separation
- Physical at the catch point as a receiver with strong hands to win the ball despite contact
- Diverse talent exposed to in-line blocking reps in both the run & pass game in addition to his receiving profile
Negatives
- Pad level and force recruitment at first contact is irregular, can be stood up, and fails to generate push with consistency
- Career usage has been relegated to split flow slice action into the flats and short hitches underneath — more than two-thirds of his career receptions have come within five air yards of LOS
- Pass protection reps are most impactful as add-ons and backside protection on rollouts vs. setting the width of pocket from in-line
Background
Taylor is the son of first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Fame pass rusher Jason Taylor, and his uncle is Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Zach Thomas. He was born in Plantation, FL, and played high school football at powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas HS.
There, he was ranked as a 3-star recruit (247 Sports) and committed to the LSU Tigers over offers from teams like Florida, Alabama, Auburn, West Virginia, and others. He joined the Tigers program as a member of their 2022 recruiting class.
As a freshman, Taylor finished second in program history by receptions by a tight end (38) while claiming a starting role in the first two weeks of the season. He’s served as the starter since and finished his LSU career as the most productive tight end in program history before declaring for the 2025 NFL Draft in December of 2024.
Tale Of The Tape
Taylor is a promising prospect who has the size, athleticism, and instincts to develop into an impactful Y tight end at the NFL level. Taylor’s role at LSU has been diverse, and he’s successfully found impact opportunities as an in-line option and when detached from the core. Taylor illustrates a passing game profile that can earn reps quickly and offers the appetite necessary away from the football to be a constant fixture in 11p offenses.
Taylor’s best qualities shine at the catch point. He is capable of creating separation with physicality or fluidity at the top of routes. He has often flashed the understanding to work back and carve his routes back toward the line of scrimmage to ensure defenders recovering into his frame don’t work across his face to undercut the football.
Taylor has soft, strong hands and is consistent in his plucking of the ball away from his frame. He’s made a number of quick reflex catches that show good hand-eye coordination and bode well for him being a sustainable receiver for anticipation throwers who release the ball early and get the ball on top of him in a hurry out of breaks.
When targeted on time, Taylor showcases slippery run-after-catch ability. He narrowly missed an explosive score late against Texas A&M but shows quickness accelerating out of the catch point, the ability to juke a head-up defender who is sitting on his power as a runner, and has run away from angles in the secondary on a handful of occasions.
Taylor was also a reliable contested catch receiver this year, converting nearly 60 percent of his targets in tight coverage at the catch point. This can help in instances with inaccurate passes that pull Taylor back into defenders or on tight-window throws across the middle of the field; Taylor saw a number of those targets with Garrett Nussmeier this past season.
He was a clutch chain mover for the Tigers; nearly 70 percent of Taylor’s receptions in 2024 converted a fresh set of downs for the offense. The variety of opportunities could be drawn back to shallow hitches underneath before converting against zone coverage as a perimeter check-down, working the slide across the formation to get the ball quickly in the flat on short yardage, or working crossers over the middle to attack voids.
Taylor’s receiving skills and athleticism are expansive enough that he should find success attacking coverage in a similar fashion quickly at the next level.
As a blocker, Taylor has size, quickness, and effort on his side. His precision with hand strikes to create knockback and ability to play with power up through his frame when engaged with blockers is modest, and he does not have the ideal upper-body strength to maul defenders and solo on defensive ends.
These ambitious assignments are unlikely to be in the cards. However, Taylor has taken on wide alignment defensive ends and played with enough grip strength and foot quickness to mirror and successfully stay sticky on occasion. These flashes and glimpses show what Taylor can be with more time and development. Taylor has active feet, although his hips can be guilty of getting high, and his base can be prone to narrow, which surrenders his lateral control of the defender at the point of attack.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Taylor projects as a developmental starter at the NFL level. His role expanded with the Tigers in 2024 and illustrates the route-running ability necessary to win at the top of the route against man coverage — which should yield his opportunities early in his career to be on the field on passing downs.
His foundation as a blocker should be focused on helping him build out a stronger profile in this phase in order to warrant every-down role in an offense; he is scheme-diverse.
Grade: 76.50/100.00, Third Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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