Makai Lemon - 2026 NFL Draft Profile & Comparisons

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This is USC wide receiver macaie lemon 3.5 yards per zone route. That's the best in the

draft class by far. And the NFL is playing more zone coverage than ever. So to me, it doesn't

take a big genius to love macaie lemon as a potential top overall pick. I loved how crafty

is attacking off coverage. He settles in zone coverage very well. And then he also has great

hands to kind of set up these yak opportunities when running all these breaking routes. 5.11192 pounds,

45340. Like you said, at his pro day, 159 10 yards, but that might not be exciting or electric

for everyone out there. My question to you, Hayden is what if at all times he's playing at that

4, 5, 3 speed. And because of his craftiness and his routes, his feel for kind of the reach and

the spacing of defensive backs, especially in zone coverage, especially in off coverage,

that he doesn't run into their area to kind of get slowed down. He is moving at the speed he wants

to at every portion of his route. And to me, that's what makes him such a productive and NFL ready

wide receiver already. Hayden hit the ground running. He's just that tempo and just like having

the awareness, when to kind of settle in, when to keep going. And then obviously it's the off

coverage. Well, both of us, we've both talked about this. It's just he gets lost so quickly against

the safety sitting over the top of them. And you don't know which way he's going to break. And that's

because he's such a good route runner. And that's how you threaten a defender is where the hell's

a sky going to end up. It's not just the speed always. It's how do you get that? He can run the entire

route tree. Don't like necessarily love him like running go balls necessarily, but you can run

post routes. You can run these big circus routes. You can obviously run the in breaking routes.

And on top of that, he has the the other ability versus other slot wide receivers,

which is going up and grabbing the ball at the high point. His hands are just phenomenal. That's

both just running on these crossing routes and also tracking the ball down the field. So I think

that's how I would label him as a slot receiver and style. But he has more elements of the top

outside wide receivers on top. Let me list a couple stats. And then we'll put kind of his game

attached to those. So of all the wider receivers in this class with 50 targets last year, he has a

second highest yards per route run at 3.13 total inside and outside versus zone and versus man.

The third most missed tackless force actually in this class at 21. Yep. You won 10 of 15 contest

targets. We'll talk about those here in a moment. And then just a snap distribution here. 456

slot snaps this past season versus 222 out wide on passing downs. That was even more expanded to

the slot. 70% of passing downs. That's where he lined up. And then 77 of his 109 targets were out

of the slot. This passes. And you know, a lot of people might say, well, I want my number one first

round picks to be big bodied outside pass catchers and super athletes. I would say look across the

NFL right now. And the guys that are the most productive at this point are the ones who are

always on the ground, who always as you and I are going to continue to repeat through this video,

a feel for zone. And like that is so important for these, I'm not going to say pure slot players,

but primary, primarily slot players, because you have to be comfortable there. It's a non-negotiable.

And he does, I think, try to tell a story with his routes. You talk about the deception.

He really gets on the corner backs toes when eating up that cushion. And it is amazing how often

they think he is breaking to the outside. And so they point their

shoulders, their head on these outside breakers. And instead, he's already moving to the inside. So

while he might not be, you know, the most explosive pass catcher out there or the fastest or the

quickest, he does still put you in positions that you don't want to be. And that generates a ton of

separation for him. There's more times where the defender is literally pointed the opposite

direction of where he's running. It's actually incredible that he's able to do this. So yeah,

that's where it's going to translate. This is 100 receptions per year. If you get into the right

offense, like, this is the JSN comparison. He's much smaller than JSN. So I don't want to put

that big of a label. It's very similar to the Ammon Rossing Brown. There's other lesser players

who are very, very productive. And yet, he's mostly going to be in the slot. If you do want to put

him in condensed formations in two wide receiver sets, absolutely physical enough to do that. I think

that his man coverage skills are good. They're not elite when it's press man coverage. But a lot

of these condensed sets, a lot of these times when you're in the slot, you're not facing strict press

man coverage where obviously his lack of like complete twitch is going to hurt him a little bit. But

off man coverage and stuff, you can still toy with them and I would still trust him. So most of the

NFL right now, he's going to be inside the slot in three wide receiver sets. No questions there.

And then the two wide receiver sets so much of the league is getting condensed formations using

motion. He's going to be the focal point with that. And when you get him in motion, he's just so

hard to cover because he toys with these defenders so much. So yeah, of course, I would rather a 6,

3, 225 pound extra receiver with 4, 3 speed. The reality is in this class, you just don't get those.

This is a player that's getting paid $30 plus million per year. And I think inside the top 10,

I feel very comfortable with them. Just get you on your toes at all times. I mean, these corners

are simply guessing with that. I pulled and I sent them to producer weaves the top 15 or 16

target getters out of the slot in the NFL last season. I'm just going to rifle through these names

and those are graphic here. But I'm going to raw one day, I'll callio Shakir, lad, Josh Downs,

Pukinakua, Debo, Devante Smith, Jamar Chase, Crystal Lava, Stefan Diggs, Ken Allen, DK, Parker

Washington, Zave Flowers, Jacobi Myers. This is just this past season. We can obviously go back a

decade, but kind of of those top 16 names of the highest earning targetters in the slot.

Does this game remind you of any of them? I mean, a lot of those guys. I mean, the Amman

Rossi and Brown comp is like the go-to comp. I kind of disagree with it for just like, oh,

it's pretty much, it's kind of what he is. I wanted to come up with something different just

for you guys because you're watching this video, but it's kind of just exactly what he is.

Interesting. I thought you said I disagree with it because I slightly do. I don't know if he's as

like powerful as Amman Rossi and Brown. And so much of Amman Ross game is built on power.

The issue to me when I was trying to come up with a comparison for him is that he's about two

inches shorter of some of the guys or three inches shorter of the ones I would compare him to.

Ken and Allen in terms of like the feel for that area. And he plays taller than you know,

his five foot 11 list of height. You go and watch the contested grabs, the back shorters against

Illinois. I mean, two defenders tackling him while converging in his zone two. Then the Iowa

game was maybe one of the best tapes I've watched. Incredible. I mean, incredible stuff. The whole

game. Straight, difficult catches. One was off frame. The sideline toe tap out of structure.

Then he climbs the ladder to go up and get it. And then he's just constantly attacking blind spots.

And he's plucking the ball off his frame as well. Another name I brought up was Adam Thielin.

And I understand like late career Adam Thielin might not be, you know, the best comparison that

people want to make out there. But don't say for not 2018 season, he was incredible as he became a full

time starter. It's just the feel for the game that makes you play faster than maybe what you're going

to be running out there with. And that's why I always think like sure, we want to always draft

the best athletes, but at wide receiver, it can matter less than almost another position.

Yeah, I do think he's just pretty powerful. Maybe that's like not so much like after the catch

Ramon was like really throwing guys. I do think lemon can do that. But I do think his power.

I just have that catch point and just incredible what he's able to do. Some of the hits that he

was able to absorb. And and he's got that like squatty kind of frame, which I do think helps him out.

But really, there's like there's one post route where the ball was like not thrown on target.

And that's, you know, the USC quarterback's not exactly just throwing absolute laser beams all

the time, going up redirecting the route, like going over his shoulder and tracking the ball,

while taking on big hits and stuff. So I do think that's where there are some similarities to

a model. Same brand. It was not the fastest player out there by any means. I just think this is

one of the easiest evaluations ever in the modern NFL. It's just like too high coverage,

zone coverage. Where do you win over the middle off coverage? And you need a guy like this. So he's

not as good as like the Pukka Nuku was in JS and if he's like one talent tier below that,

but stylistically, it's just exactly what he is. Another difference to me is I don't know if I

would attach him to the formation. Like I don't know if you really want to run consistent,

condensed splits with him that he is basically playing instead of your second tight end on the roster

and handing down a defensive end or cracking down on a linebacker. I kind of saw it. I mean,

we didn't have many of those reps. There were his best blocking. I felt was when he was in the slot

and working back multiple yards to get after a linebacker, but it's not like we saw him

as you know a secondary titanation. A lot of the guys that have been mentioning that really is

what the NFL is. You know, you can say an 11 person nobody blocks like a a second titan. I'll

also add on the two wide receiver set stuff playing outside. His gaming is Notre Dame. I felt

was a bit of a concern. That corner really get after many face that bunch of press coverage there.

Yeah, I think you have like 20 of his 60 press coverage maps were in that game alone. And then

after again, the Illinois games and the Iowa games, I was like riding high and then I watched

the one against Oregon. I also felt like the corners were in his hip pockets that they were really

competing with him at the catchpoint. And to me, that's where the lack of a second gear

came to be an issue was that final bit of creating separation where the top of the route being

able to pull away from corners and even safeties and slot guys. In those two games, I didn't see

it as often as in others. And obviously some of those defensive players are the best that he faced

all season. I saw the same exact thing against Notre Dame where one of the guys who hasn't declared

yet, he looks like an absolute specimen out there. He struggled against him. He also had a couple

man coverage wins on the inside too. I think it's going to be hard for him to be a top five,

top 10 NFL wide receiver. Now you don't need to be a top 10 wide receiver in the NFL to still be

worth a top 10-ish overall pick. And I think a lot of the teams from the commanders down to the

Ravens, I kind of in that that seven to 14 range. I think he fits a whole bunch of those

offenses. I think that's a nice sweet spot for McCuy Lemmon. Obviously, JSN fell a little bit

further than that. I think that JSN's upsides a little bit higher than McCuy Lemmon. But I do think

it's just, even if he doesn't have that second gear, the rest of the profile is just so automatic

here. You really see him weave between defenders. It really is amazing. Like he will first work

around the underneath guy to not get slowed down. Then he works between the gaps of the line

backers and the safeties. And the ball is kind of lofted up and he'll just climb the ladder to go

up and get it and come down with a 17 yard catch. It really is amazing to me how he plays at his

own pace, albeit the pace is four, five, three. And yet other guys who run faster can get slowed

down because they don't have just the same feel for the game. And then when it's along the sideline,

he is always getting his second foot down. Like he knows exactly where he is on the field. And

those definitely stood out to me. I'm not sure if he's the guy that you want to like power through

a tackler on third or fourth down with a ball in his hands. And I'm not sure like if his

mistack was forced or his drugs after catch are going to completely translate once there are better

NFL athletes. But you know, there's plenty of great aspects to his game on top of it.

Before we get out of here, I didn't want to ask you two things. One, there's been a lot of

concerns just about MacKyle and then throughout this process. First on his 40, his heels were

clicking on the ground. So there's a running form. Yeah, there's some running form concerns here.

And the other was, let's say his combine interviews and the one that we saw, you know, at the podium,

he had some interesting mannerisms to him. Do you have any comments on either of you?

I'm not going to defend him for any of these things. I don't know the guy. I will say this.

He did not seem like he was totally locked in on some of the stuff. Like there was like even the

one drill where he's first in line wasn't paying attention. And then just like completely botched

the drill. I also heard from Dean Bruegler on one of his shows where he was the guy that sang

he's the most competitive guy in the draft and then is opting out a bunch of the drills. I think

that the 40 time and just like the look of it did not seem like somebody that was like completely

locked into the training port of running a 40 yard dash. And then I just go back to the tape

after I mean, I watched this and then I went back to the tape and I'm like, man,

he looks like a totally different player. Just a monster. I don't know what to tell you guys,

man. So like, yes, like if I had more insight onto it, then yeah, maybe I can say like,

well, he's not doing this, this, and this. I try to go back with that. Just like laser focus,

like what's my mind playing tricks? I mean, I just couldn't find anything. The crazy part is

he plays the game like he watches tape 24 hours a day. Yes. And he's and that he's super tough.

You know, he's tough and he's locked in. He's got a great feel. And then everything else about

this was like not that. I don't get it. I don't know. Uh, did you want to throw any comparisons

before we get out of here? Because I threw up mine. Um, I do like the feeling one. Yeah. I think

he's just a the tier below, you know, the guys that he's always comped to. I'm on our same brown

JS. And I think he's probably finished one tier below those. You can draft that guy inside the top 15.

Feel very good about it. I don't think he's going to be a top five receiver in the NFL. And I don't

think that should prevent you from wanting him. All right. That does it. We've got plenty of other

why do you see a prospect videos here in the channel along with quarterbacks and running backs

and tight ends. So if you enjoyed this one, we don't share notes. As you can tell, we get to hear

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