FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — New York Jets rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq will be sidelined “a little bit” after coach Aaron Glenn said the first-round pick had a setback in his recovery from offseason hernia surgery.
Sadiq, the No. 16 overall selection out of Oregon in April, had the injury while in college and he and the team opted to have the procedure done during the offseason. Glenn said Sadiq, who was on what the coach called “a maintenance program,” practiced the first three days of training camp, but didn't participate Monday or Tuesday.
“He had a little setback as we watched his exams,” Glenn said. “So he’ll be out a little bit. I can’t tell you exactly how long right now, but I will let you know that at some point. But I’m just expecting him to be out for a little bit. But he’s working his way back.”
Glenn said he was “very confident” Sadiq would be healthy in time to play in the regular-season opener at Tennessee on Sept. 13.
“I’m not real worried, but the thing is I want to make sure that I make the right decision,” Glenn said. "I want make sure I take care of him so he can be ready for the regular season."
Sadiq was the second of the Jets’ three first-round picks this year and is expected to have a big role in Frank Reich’s offense as a pass-catching threat for quarterback Geno Smith. The 6-foot-3, 241-pound Sadiq set an Oregon record last season for tight ends with 51 receptions — while dealing with the hernia.
He said on Saturday after practice that he was feeling good physically and happy to be on the practice field after sitting out some offseason workouts and minicamp.
“I feel really good just getting back out there, running around,” Sadiq said. “It’s really just getting my legs back under myself because I missed some time. But I’m feeling really good. I already feel better than last season, which is good.”
During the first few days of camp, Sadiq showed good speed during practice with no indication he was ailing.
“It’s really just getting that football movement back that I’ve missed the past couple of months,” he said. “But there’s definitely still another level to get to.”
When healthy, Sadiq should complement veteran Jeremy Ruckert and second-year tight end Mason Taylor, the Jets' second-round pick last year. New York also has Jelani Woods and Chase Curtis as tight ends on the 90-man roster.
Running back Braelon Allen has looked good in his comeback from an MCL injury that limited him to four games in his second NFL season.
“It feels great,” a smiling Allen said. “It was a long road, of course. About 11 months since I last strapped the pads up. It felt great. I had to get those first few thuds out of the way and I was right back feeling like myself.”
The 6-foot-1 physical back, who says he is about 244 or 245 pounds, especially enjoyed the last two practices in full pads.
“That's kind of where my game comes to life,” he said. “It's like riding a bike, essentially. Downhill and go.”
Allen is the primary backup to Breece Hall in the backfield, but the 2024 fourth-round pick out of Wisconsin is expected to have a large role in the offense along with Isaiah Davis.
“He’s everything I imagine from a running back of that size — 240 pounds, he has good speed,” Glenn said. “The thing is, he can catch the ball out of the backfield. Those three guys, man, I’m excited about having those three guys.”
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New York Jets' Braelon Allen participates during an NFL football training camp in Florham Park, N.J., Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Jets running back Braelon Allen participates during practice at the team’s NFL football training camp in Florham Park, N.J., Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Long before he was the top official at the U.S. Postal Service, David Steiner was a corporate executive surfing mid-oughts television when he came across Donald Trump on “The Apprentice.”
He was unimpressed.
“If that is leadership, if that's what we're telling people that our culture and our media portrays as leadership, we're screwed,” Steiner, then the CEO of Waste Management, said during a 2007 speech at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. “If that's leadership, count me out.”
“And for God's sake,” he added to laughter, “if I have to get my hair to look like that, if I have to do that to be a leader, you can definitely count me out.”
Nearly two decades later, Trump has migrated from reality television to the presidency. And onetime detractors — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, for example — now loyally execute his agenda.
Trump's effort to use the Postal Service as a tool to reshape American elections is testing whether Steiner will follow a similar path.
When Trump signed an executive order restricting mail ballots this year, Steiner moved quickly to finalize a rule implementing the measure, arguing he had little choice. But after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the effort, Steiner told The Associated Press that work had stopped on one of the plan's most controversial elements, a government portal for voter rolls.
He refused to endorse the Republican president's order as sound policy, saying he was focused on implementation and letting the courts ultimately decide the matter.
“I don't get to decide what rules that are put on us that I decide to accept or not accept,” he said. “We are an independent agency of the executive branch.”
The episode prompted fierce criticism of Steiner for allowing Trump to deploy an agency designed to be shielded from politics.
Jena Griswold, Colorado's Democratic secretary of state, called him a “Trump lackey.” Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, recently asked Congress to deploy observers to ensure postal workers can scan envelopes holding mail ballots without disruption, saying the Trump administration "has attempted to weaponize federal agencies to interfere in our elections, and the leadership at USPS is going along with it.”
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., accused Steiner of being a Trump “pawn” during a congressional hearing this summer. Dozens of congressional Democrats have pressed Steiner to reveal his interactions with the White House during the development of the mail ballot rule.
Some Republicans have joined in the criticism. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, incensed by abandoned mail, called for Steiner's resignation and introduced legislation to block him from receiving a bonus.
During a lengthy interview, Steiner seemed surprised at points by his reception in Washington. He insisted he wasn't a “political person” and said he had no intention of stepping down despite the criticism. He dismissed heated congressional appearances as “theater” at odds with more substantive private interactions on Capitol Hill.
Steiner was chagrined, however, at the mention of his 2007 remarks on Trump, delivered well before he launched a political career. Steiner recalled speaking at the university but said he didn't remember his comments, acknowledging a tendency to be “flippant.”
“That's funny,” he said. “I don't recall it.”
The White House didn't respond to a request for comment on Steiner's remarks or his stewardship of the Postal Service.
The Postal Service dates to Benjamin Franklin, the first postmaster general, whose portrait and bust are displayed in Steiner's office overlooking the Washington Wharf. The agency has more than 630,000 employees, dwarfing many Cabinet departments.
While the quickest way to top jobs in Trump's Washington is often by writing big checks, the 66-year-old Steiner doesn’t appear to have followed that course. He has largely donated to Republicans but also gave to John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign in 2004. Unlike his predecessor as postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, Steiner was not a major GOP donor or Trump backer.
Born in Oakland, California, as one of eight children to a father who spent his career at Chevron, Steiner worked in corporate and securities law before moving to Waste Management in 2000. He became CEO in 2004 and ran the company for 12 years. He was also a longtime director at FedEx, where board chairman Brad Martin recalled him as “outcome oriented” and rarely political.
“He's going to follow the rules. He's going to follow the law,” Martin said. “I don't recall us ever talking politics.”
By the time a headhunter contacted Steiner about the postmaster general job, he was largely removed from daily corporate life and initially demurred.
“I talked to my wife, and we both agreed I was happily retired," he said.
He changed his mind, he said, during a visit to the beaches of Normandy, feeling a sense of civic duty.
Now at the Postal Service, he earns about $346,000 in annual salary along with a relocation bonus that amounts to half his salary, far less than the $17 million in compensation he earned during his final year at Waste Management. His current role is designed to exist one layer removed from the political process, reporting to a board of governors that is selected by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
He was hired in 2025 by a board that was made up of five members, three of whom were Democrats. All but one were appointed by President Joe Biden. That makeup could change as four Trump nominees — all Republicans — await Senate confirmation. Steiner can be fired only by the board.
Steiner said he first met Trump along with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at the board's urging after he was already selected as postmaster general. Since then, he described a minimal relationship with the White House.
“We don't fly on the radar,” he said.
That is, until Trump revived his effort in March to crack down on mail voting. Steiner said he “wasn't in on the development piece” of the order and first saw it about a month before it was signed.
“They gave it to us to say, ‘Have your lawyers look at it, and how do you operationalize it?’” Steiner said.
The portal spurred a massive development effort inside the Postal Service while some states criticized it as federal overreach. A whistleblower report released by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., argued the system was hastily built and riddled with errors, though Steiner said he was confident it could have been unveiled around Sept. 15.
“The heavy lifting was clearly, clearly the IT work,” Steiner said.
Though the Supreme Court dispensed with the rule, the dynamics for the Postal Service don't get easier.
The agency posted a $9 billion net loss last year, and Steiner has warned it could soon run out of cash unless Congress lifts a $15 billion borrowing cap. Political hurdles have prevented potential cost savings from cutting service or closing some post offices.
And while Trump's executive order won't take effect, the Postal Service will still play a critical role in this year's elections. There are mounting concerns that mail ballots could be rejected for late postmarks. Steiner encouraged voters to get their ballots in a week before the election to avoid problems.
The Postal Service is a rare corner of government still viewed favorably with more than half of Americans, 56%, saying it was doing an “excellent” or “good” job in a Gallup poll conducted last year. That could change if the agency is seen as increasingly political.
Steiner, however, said Americans will judge the Postal Service by their experience of it.
“What they care about is when they get that wedding invitation after the wedding or when they send a package and it disappears,” he said. “If we want to have the trust of the American public, let's be the best service provider. Everything else is noise.”
Postmaster General David Steiner speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Postmaster General David Steiner speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Postmaster General David Steiner speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Postmaster General David Steiner poses for a photograph at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Postmaster General David Steiner speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the United States Postal Service headquarters, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
