Makai Lemon is a technically refined and nuanced slot receiver who has the quickness, speed, and IQ to win at all three levels of the field.​

​

Lemon was a high 4-star recruit and a top 50 player in the 2023 recruiting class, opting to attend USC over Oklahoma, Oregon, Georgia, Alabama, etc. Lemon dominated in high school, earning several All-American honors while playing both ways as a WR and DB at Los Alamitos High School. He seldom saw the field as a true freshman, but burst onto the scene his sophomore and junior years, totaling 1,924 yards, 16 TDs, and 14.7 yards/catch. Lemon was named a finalist for the 2025 Belitnikoff Award.

​

Lemon's route running is a full-stack skillset complete with natural athleticism, nuance, technical refinement, spatial IQ, and versatility. Athletically, Lemon possesses burst and quickness to win off the LOS and create separation early and often in his routes. Working the vertical plane, Lemon has an extra gear to create space on fades, but even more remarkable is his deceleration ability to win on comebacks and hitches. At the top of the route, Lemon is intelligent and savvy; he excels on option routes where he can maximize his ability to read and attack leverage. He is quick to diagnose and take advantage of soft spots in zone defenses; there are several instances on film where Maiava is in trouble, but Lemon has made himself wide open for a fairly easy completion. Against man coverage, Lemon's hand technique and salesmanship at the top of the route is remarkable; it's one of many ways he compensates for his lack of size by using skill. He pushes up the stem aggressively and often avoids contact exchanges altogether by deploying exaggerated head fakes and cuts. Lemon doesn't often allow DBs, whether against zone or man, to muddy his route efficiency or knock him off track. It's not surprising that a route runner with Lemon's ability has developed a practically maxed-out route tree; he's asked to run a lot of different routes out of the slot, and he runs all of them well.

​

Makai Lemon has ultra-reliable hands, boasting just 3 drops on nearly 200 targets in his last two seasons. Even more impressive, however, is his fearlessness at the catch point--I don't believe I've seen a slot receiver play with bravery and reliability over the middle as he has in recent years. Lemon boasts a career 57% contested catch win rate, which indicates he plays far bigger than his frame (you can also just see it when watching him; he will leap for any and every target and come down with it). After the catch is another area where Lemon excels. He's a true playmaker when he gets in space, and he has the elusiveness to make defenders miss and the contact balance to keep his feet. 

​

Physical limitations are the main question mark ailing Makai Lemon's stock. He's a smaller player who can struggle at times to win early contact exchanges vs larger cornerbacks, which will likely relegate him to the slot, at least at first (NFL playcallers are as creative as ever moving around their playmakers to give them free releases, so he can still thrive as a Z). Despite playing bigger than his frame at the catch point, his frame is still smaller, and this will limit his ability to win against lengthier NFL DBs who can play through his hands with greater ease. 

​

There are very few areas where Lemon still needs improvement. He projects as a plug-and-play slot WR with the chance to develop into a true inside-out go-to weapon as he becomes acclimated to the speed of the NFL. He projects best into a high-volume slot role, though it's likely we will also see him moved around and utilized as a Z, especially in condensed sets, similar to Amon-Ra St. Brown or '24 Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

​​

Grade: mid 1st round

Archetype: 3-Level Slot Receiver

High-End Pro Comparison: Doug Baldwin

Low-End Pro Comparison: Khalil Shakir