{"id":174600,"date":"2026-04-24T05:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/174600\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:40:10","slug":"usc-wr-makai-lemon-selected-by-philadelphia-eagles-with-pick-no-20-in-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/174600\/","title":{"rendered":"USC WR Makai Lemon selected by Philadelphia Eagles with pick No. 20 in 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage<\/a> of the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Eagles selected USC receiver Makai Lemon with the 20th pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft<\/a>. He was the third receiver taken.<\/p>\n

The Eagles traded up with the Dallas Cowboys for the 20th pick. The last time the Eagles and Cowboys traded was 2021, when the Eagles selected DeVonta Smith at No. 10 and the Cowboys took Micah Parsons at No. 12.<\/p>\n

Lemon won the Biletnikoff Award, which is given annually to the most outstanding receiver in college football. He caught 79 passes for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2025.<\/p>\n

Lemon was a highly touted recruit and fringe five-star prospect when he signed with the Trojans during the 2022 recruiting cycle. Even though he was a top-100 prospect, he was somewhat overlooked in USC\u2019s recruiting class by higher-rated receiver recruits like Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson.<\/p>\n

But in 2024, Lemon emerged as the best player of the group. He led USC in catches (52) and receiving yards (764) despite not being featured prominently until midseason. That set the stage for his tremendous 2025 season. His best performance came in a 10-catch, 153-yard effort against a strong Iowa defense in November.<\/p>\n

Lemon also did solid work in the return game for USC and displayed good vision as a kick returner. And at one point during his freshman season, Lemon played cornerback when the Trojans were lacking depth on defense.<\/p>\n

Lemon isn\u2019t the flashiest athlete, but it\u2019s difficult to argue with his production and ability as an all-around football player.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Beast\u2019 breakdown<\/p>\n

Lemon ranked No. 13 overall and was the No. 2 receiver on Dane Brugler\u2019s big board<\/a>. Here\u2019s what Brugler had to say about him in his annual NFL Draft guide<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cLemon doesn\u2019t wow with his size or athletic profile, but he is a smooth, manipulative route runner and catches everything thrown his way. Similar in ways to fellow former Trojans receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, he already plays like a pro and projects as an NFL starter (Z or slot).\u201d<\/p>\n

Coaching intel<\/p>\n

What a Big Ten defensive coordinator had to say about Lemon in Bruce Feldman\u2019s mock draft<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is that guy who plays like he\u2019s 6-4, 220. He\u2019s really good in traffic and on 50-50 balls. He\u2019s also really efficient and crafty as a route runner. He\u2019s got a suddenness there. I don\u2019t know if he\u2019s faster than a mid-4.5 (40) guy, but he\u2019s just really shifty and strong and can burst out of tough angles and get separation. He\u2019s real good with the ball in his hands, too. Like a running back.\u201d<\/p>\n

How he fits<\/p>\n

Lemon offers the Eagles a potentially explosive target just as they\u2019re poised to move on from A.J. Brown. Lemon spent the majority of his college career playing in the slot. He\u2019s 5-11, 192 pounds. He had more than 500 yards after the catch last season. He fits well as a complement to DeVonta Smith in the team\u2019s offensive system under new OC Sean Mannion. \u2014 Eagles beat writer Brooks Kubena<\/p>\n

Depth-chart impact<\/p>\n

The Eagles have long been poised to trade Brown. The departure of arguably the greatest wide receiver in team history will leave open a considerable vacancy. The Eagles strongly believe DeVonta Smith can be an elite No. 1 option. They\u2019ve spent the offseason stockpiling veterans around him. Lemon, Dane Brugler\u2019s No. 2-ranked WR, typifies the draft-day value anomaly that Howie Roseman pounces upon. Lemon will have to compete with Marquise Brown, Dontayvion Wicks and Elijah Moore to see the field in 2025. But it makes sense that the Eagles are doing the most they can to ensure they don\u2019t experience a huge drop-off at the position. \u2014 Kubena<\/p>\n

They also could have picked \u2026<\/p>\n

The Eagles could have picked Auburn edge rusher Keldric Faulk or Arizona State offensive tackle Max Iheanachor. They bypassed an eventual Lane Johnson replacement and another pass rusher to get a player who will slot as a starting receiver for the Eagles \u2014 assuming A.J. Brown is traded. The Eagles were aggressive after Monroe Freeling was drafted at No. 19, wiping the top offensive tackles off the board. At wide receiver, they also could have gone with Omar Cooper Jr., but Lemon was considered the higher-ranked player. \u2014 Eagles beat writer Zach Berman<\/p>\n

Fast evaluation<\/p>\n

The first reaction that fans will have is that this signals that Brown is going to be traded (and that is what\u2019s expected), but this would have been a sensible move even if he remains with the Eagles. The Eagles know they needed to replenish their offense with young, cost-controlled talent, and Lemon stood out among potential blue-chippers available. He was No. 13 on the consensus Big Board, and the Eagles landed him at No. 20. This continues Roseman\u2019s recent history of hunting value in the first round. Lemon arrives with standout college production.\u00a0 He\u2019s a smooth route runner who can move around the formation, and at age 21, he\u2019s a young prospect who left USC after three seasons. This move was about adding high-end offensive talent. Roseman drafts based on tiers and did not want to reach, and considering the aggressive trade, it\u2019s clear that the tier was depleting and the Eagles wanted to ensure they landed a blue-chip talent. \u2014 Berman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the 2026 NFL Draft. The Philadelphia Eagles selected USC receiver Makai Lemon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,4538,71,70,20101],"class_list":{"0":"post-174600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-philadelphia","9":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","10":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","11":"tag-philadelphia-news","12":"tag-usc-trojans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}