Philly Front Office

Night one of the 2026 NFL Draft had its twists and turns leading to the Eagles first pick of the night. I went from loving what I saw and convinced we were going to trade up for a stud to the notion that trading back was crystal clear because no one would be available. In the end, we selected WR Makai Lemon and it is a very big deal.

NFL Draft Grades

How We Got There

The single most important draft pick on the path to getting Lemon was #13 by the LA Rams. When they selected Ty Simpson, not only did it mean they weren’t getting Lemon themselves, but it sent the whole draft back a spot. No one realistically had him stealing a spot before the Eagles pick. From there, Lemon could have gone to the Bucs, the Jets, the Vikings, or the Panthers. They all passed.

The Steelers thought they had him at 21. Ian Rappaport even relayed the story that while the Cowboys were on the clock at 20 and not in on the WR market in any way, the Steelers called Lemon and told him he was staying in Pittsburgh. While they were on the phone, the Eagles traded up and got their man.¹ For the price of two 4th rounders (#114 and #137), the Cowboys were willing to swap #20 for #23.

Before the draft, I listed 11 targets (really 13, but Downs and Sadiq were never realistic) that I could see the Eagles taking and feeling good about (then 5 more not nearly as exciting). Lemon (and Keldric Faulk) were the only ones left. Similarly, the Eagles said that they scripted the top 15 picks in the draft and Lemon was the only one still available. He was the last of the upper-level draft talents available.

Who is Makai Lemon?

Lemon is not physically gifted,² let’s start right there. At only 5’11” and 190 pounds with small arms and hands, he is not an impressive target. Does that matter? Nope. He won the Biletnikoff Award as the top WR in the NCAA this season for USC. Despite only playing in 12 games, Lemon was right around the top 10 in every statistical category. On 108 targets last season, he had just 2 drops.

Stats and measurables are all well and good, but what are the Eagles getting in this kid? Let’s start with the team that DIDN’T draft him. Pittsburgh GM Omar Khan couldn’t stop raving about Lemon in the pre-Draft process and probably tipped his hand to Howie Roseman in doing so. All everyone says is that the kid lives and breathes football.

NFL Draft 2026 Live: Day 1

His comparisons are all exactly who you want to hear including Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Puka Nacua. Essentially, he is a shifty receiver who knows how to get open and come down with the football despite his size limitations. The crazy part was that this wasn’t destiny. As a freshman, he played on special teams and even at DB. He credits that hard work with getting himself to where he is today.³

The only criticism of the kid seems to be his Combine interviews. Scouts didn’t like the way he talked, claiming that he sounded cocky and vacillated between looking angry and disinterested.

What He Means to the Eagles

Unfortunately, the buzz around Lemon is going to be much bigger than that of your typical mid-1st round WR. We all know why. His selection means the unofficial end to the AJ Brown era in Philadelphia. The worst kept secret is that Brown is going to be moved in the offseason.

In that now likely scenario, DeVonta Smith moves up his responsibilities a level while Lemon moves to the slot and Dontayvion Wicks and Hollywood Brown take the other outside duties.

It’s more than just a formation change though. Smith has always been the good soldier, football first type who only has fun when the game is won. Lemon seems to be of the same mold, a live and breathe footballer. Not to get too soapboxxy, but that was not AJ Brown. I still love the guy and deep down we all know he was right about the Eagles offense last season, but he was a constant annoyance for all involved. Simply, that doesn’t seem to be Lemon’s personality at all.

Now the Eagles can move on and not miss too much of a beat in the passing game despite Lemon obviously not being Brown. The team will move into a new offense with personnel matched to the scheme. Plus, the picks we get for Brown will allow the team to load up even further next season.

From a salary cap perspective, the #20 pick comes with a 4/$20m contract. There is some wiggle room on how the signing bonus is worked, but expect Lemon to only cost around $3.5m in cap for 2026. As for Brown, his eventual post-June 1 trade will decrease the Eagles cap number by around $7m this season. I’ll have a full update on the cap at the end of the draft.

1. As the story goes, he even asked Steelers GM Omar Khan, “wait, why is Philly calling me?” Imagine knowing Howie is screwing you in real time like that? ↩︎
2. Not pictured is the 4.47 he ran at his Pro Day which was unexpectedly good ↩︎
3. One Thing’s For Certain: Makai Lemon – USC Athletics ↩︎