Over the last few months, we’ve been taking an in-depth look at some of the late season signings who are under contract for 2026, and futures signings after the end of the season. We continue today with wide receiver Mac Dalena, who signed a futures deal after the season.
The 24-year old Dalena is listed at 5’10” and 176 pounds and was undrafted out of Fresno State last season. He has not made his NFL debut yet, although he has spent time with the Chiefs and Seahawks. Dalena had a thousand-yard season in
his final year of college in 2024 and was a first-team all-Mountain West Conference selection.
Background
Dalena was a three-star high school recruit, who headed to Fresno State in 2020 and had four catches for 88 yards and a touchdown in six games in his first season.
In 2021, he mostly contributed on special teams, although he did make the first start of his career on offense. He did not register any catches.
2022 saw Dalena’s role increase as he started three of 14 games and caught 11 passes for 99 yards and a score.
He then became a full-time starter in 2023, catching 47 passes for 509 yards and three touchdowns. However, his fifth season was his best, as he had 64 catches for over 1,000 yards and eight scores to earn first-team all-Mountain West Conference recognition.
Having not been selected in the 2025 NFL draft, Dalena signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent and attended training camp with them. He caught two passes for nine yards in preseason but did not make the team.
While Dalena was signed to the Seahawks’ practice squad in November, he lasted just five days and hadn’t been with a team again until the Jets signed him to a futures deal after the season.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Dalena brings to the table as a player, based on extensive research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Dalena lacks size and his listed weight of 176 pounds is obviously too small for the NFL. However, he has probably already began the process of bulking up having attended an NFL camp last summer. He managed 11 bench press reps at his pro day.
Also at his pro day, he made headlines with an unofficial 4.36 in the 40-yard dash, although the official time was 4.43. His explosiveness and agility numbers were both also very good.
Usage
At his size, Dalena will probably be mostly limited to a slot role at the NFL level, although he has experience in all three receiver positions and did line up out wide at times in preseason with the Chiefs. His slot usage increased over the course of his college career, although it was still less than 25 percent in his final season.
He occasionally carried the ball on jet sweeps and end arounds, including on one play in 2023 where he rushed for a 33-yard gain.
Deep threat
Dalena’s role expanded significantly in his final season. He had previously been more of a possession receiver that had only shown a few flashes of big play potential. However, in 2024, he became a legitimate downfield threat, racking up over half of his yards and six of his eight touchdowns on passes more than 20 yards down the field.
He ended the season with a 16.6 yards per catch average which was good for fourth best in the Mountain West Conference.
His numbers in this area could have been much better too, as it was not uncommon for him to get behind the defense only to then have to slow down to catch an underthrown or late pass because Fresno State quarterbacks were not particularly efficient at throwing deep passes.
Hands
Dalena established himself as a sure-handed receiver with the Bulldogs as he had a 71 percent catch rate in his career and only dropped four passes.
He shows an ability to snag passes beyond his frame and can get low to make catches close to the ground or sideline.
Routes
Dalena shows short area burst on slants and out-breaking patterns and is effective on double-moves to get open down the field. He has good balance and can be sharp when accelerating out of his breaks. He also does a good job of disguising his release and route breaks.
He has said that he idolized Julian Edelman because that is someone who has a similar style of play, so he brings similar things to the table in terms of being a possession option and getting open in tight areas.
Red zone
Dalena only had 13 career touchdowns in college and over half of these were from outside the red zone. However, on those he did make in the red zone, he showed some ability to get open early in the play or to find space if a play was extended.
After the catch
Dalena has the quickness and agility to be very good after the catch, although his missed tackle numbers and YAC totals are not all that impressive. He does flash at times, though, and did show some improvements in this area over the course of his career.
Both his catches in preseason action came on receiver screens for gains of four and five yards. He showed aggression with this attempted stiff arm on one of them, but ended up getting flagged.
He had one fumble in college.
Blocking
Due to his lack of size, you wouldn’t expect Dalena to contribute much as a blocker and his performance grades on analysis sites like Pro Football Focus tend to be below average.
However, a closer look at least shows that he competes and puts in the effort to stay on his man in these situations. He showed good downfield hustle to contribute on this long touchdown run.
Physicality
Despite his lack of size, Dalena shows some tenaciousness and is competitive and tough when going over the middle.
Contested catches were another area of his game which showed some improvement towards the end of his college career.
Against the bigger and stronger defenders at the NFL level, he’s going to be less capable of competing at the catch-point and there has already been some evidence of that from his preseason action.
Special Teams
Dalena was a good special teams contributor in college, racking up 16 career tackles in kickoff coverage and as a punt gunner. This impressive play, which denied UCLA a touchdown that ultimately cost them the game, saw him run down the California 100 meters State Champion.
He also recovered a fumble on a kickoff and blocked a punt in college. In addition, he at one stage filled in as an emergency placekicker and made two out of four extra points.
Dalena doesn’t have much kick return experience although he did field a few kickoffs and punts including an onside kick and one kickoff that he returned 36 yards.
Instincts and Intelligence
Dalena shows a good instinct for finding gaps in zone coverages and coming back to the quarterback when plays are extended. However, his vision as a ball carrier is often lacking as he doesn’t always maximize his potential yardage by following blockers or taking the path of least resistance and is often taken down by the first man to get to him.
He was a three-time Mountain West Conference all-Academic selection.
Attitude
Dalena, who was a high school team captain and a game captain at Fresno State, looks to bring the same kind of hard working attitude as his idol Edelman. Coaches and teammates have praised his dedication, commitment and confidence levels.
On field discipline is not a concern as he had just two penalties in college.
Injuries
So far, Dalena has been fortunate with injuries and doesn’t seem to have been affected by them in his career.
Scheme Fit
As noted, aside from his potential special teams contributions, Dalena’s most likely NFL role would be as a possession receiver operating mainly out of the slot.
He was a teammate of current Jets player Dean Clark at Fresno State and Cam Jones and Bailey Zappe at Kansas City.
Conclusions
Dalena didn’t make much of an impression in preseason last year but the Jets obviously have someone in the organization who had been impressed enough by him in the past to want a closer look now.
Aside from Garrett Wilson, nobody’s role among pass catchers on next year’s offense is particularly nailed down. Dalena will then have a chance to crack the rotation if he impresses in camp or if injuries give him a chance to move up to the top two units.
Realistically, though, Dalena looks like a long-shot who could be a practice squad or scout team player at best.
