{"id":265354,"date":"2026-04-20T20:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=265354"},"modified":"2026-04-20T20:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:19:07","slug":"makai-lemon-2026-nfl-draft-profile-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/04\/20\/makai-lemon-2026-nfl-draft-profile-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Makai Lemon 2026 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most exciting receivers in this year&#8217;s draft class, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/makai-lemon-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Makai Lemon<\/a>, looks to be the latest in a long line of impressive players from USC. After breaking out with an All-American performance in 2025, Lemon looks to be one of, if not the first, receivers taken.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-draft\/profiles\/\" target=\"_self\">More 2026 NFL Draft Profiles<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Makai Lemon<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOB61Di1M5k\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 5946px; aspect-ratio: 5946\/3966;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h3>Measurables<\/h3>\n<p><span>Height: 5&#8242; 11&#8243;<\/span><br \/>\n<span>Weight: 192<\/span><br \/>\n<span>Arms: 30.5&#8243;<\/span><br \/>\n<span>Hands: 8.75<\/span><br \/>\n<span>40-yard: 4.53<\/span><br \/>\n<span>School: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/category\/bigten\/usc-trojans\/\" target=\"_self\">USC<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Makai Lemon NFL Draft Overview<\/h3>\n<p>Coming out of Los Alimitos High School in California, Lemon had his pick of schools. He was the consensus seventh-best receiver and 44th-best player regardless of position in the 2023 recruiting class. The four-star athlete decided to stay closer to home rather than attend Oklahoma or Alabama.<\/p>\n<p>As a true freshman, Lemon appeared in nine games, playing both ways for the Trojans. In total, he hauled in six passes for 88 yards and even made a tackle. Then, in 2024, he stuck to focusing on receiver and had a bit of a breakout season. In 12 games, Lemon led the Trojans with 43 receptions for 525, and was tied for third with three touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Lemon took over. In 12 games, Lemon led the Trojans with 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns on 79 receptions.<\/p>\n<p>For his 2025 breakout, Lemon earned unanimous All-American honors and was crowned the top receiver in the nation with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/12\/12\/breaking-uscs-makai-lemon-wins-the-biletnikoff-award\/\" target=\"_self\">Biletnikoff Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to his receiving chops, Lemon returned 33 kicks in his time with USC for an average of 23.5 yards per return.<\/p>\n<p>Across his 33 career games, Lemon has seven 100-yard games and three with multiple touchdowns.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Football IQ on display when he exploits leverage<\/li>\n<li>Plays much larger than his 5&#8217;11&#8221;, 192-pound frame would suggest<\/li>\n<li>Ball tracking mid-air is legitimately elite<\/li>\n<li>Always gets his feet down<\/li>\n<li>Takes &#8220;no block, no rock&#8221; to heart<\/li>\n<li>2.5% drop rate<\/li>\n<li>Deep threat; converted 25 targets of 20+ into 16 receptions for 522 yards and five touchdowns<\/li>\n<li>Plays faster and smoother than 4.5 speed<\/li>\n<li>Can beat both man and zone<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Might just be a slot option in the NFL (80.6% of career snaps from the slot)<\/li>\n<li>Still a smaller frame<\/li>\n<li>Good, not elite after the catch<\/li>\n<li>Longer corners may cause him issues in press<\/li>\n<li>Tends to rush and cut off double moves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Projection<\/strong>: First Round<br \/>\n<strong>Best Fits<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/dolphins\/\" target=\"_self\">Miami Dolphins<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/browns\/\" target=\"_self\">Cleveland Browns<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/rams\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Rams<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/chiefs\/\" target=\"_self\">Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/steelers\/\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line on Makai Lemon<\/h3>\n<p>Despite being a bit smaller and a bit slower, Lemon took home the Biletnikoff Award for good reason, beating out Jeremiah Smith and Skyler Bell. He was far and away the number-one threat in a Lincoln Riley-led USC offense, so defenses knew where it was going, but it didn&#8217;t matter.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest knock on Lemon will be that he may &#8220;just&#8221; be a slot receiver. However, with his route running and ability to find the softest spots in the defense, Lemon can be a very good slot receiver in the NFL.<\/p>\n<p>He doesn&#8217;t have that breakneck speed you&#8217;d want, nor is he a threat to take any catch to the house with YAC. At the same time, he does everything else incredibly well. Coming across the middle, he&#8217;s as sure-handed as any. If given a 50-50 ball, Lemon is able to go up and get it at a higher rate than you&#8217;d expect a player of his stature.<\/p>\n<p>Plenty of comparisons to Amon-Ra St. Brown have hit the web regarding Lemon. Both players lack size, but play so much bigger. Lemon runs after the catch almost like a running back, making him hard to bring down.<\/p>\n<p>Lemon has what it takes to be a star in the NFL. He does everything well and will be an incredibly reliable receiver that any quarterback will love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last year&#8217;s Biletnikoff Award winner, Makai Lemon looks to be one of the top receivers in this year&#8217;s NFL Draft. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":277148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<smartframe-embed customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBw8mVnn9h\" style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 3072px;aspect-ratio: 3072\/2048\"><\/smartframe-embed><!-- https:\/\/smartframe.io\/embedding-support -->","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,33760],"tags":[33533,33773],"class_list":["post-265354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-profiles","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-makai-lemon"],"modified_by":"Drew Crabtree","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265354"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277151,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265354\/revisions\/277151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}