For weeks we’ve been hearing that the Los Angeles Rams could or should draft USC wide receiver Makai Lemon with the 13th overall pick, which until recently had been the most commonly-mocked pick for Les Snead. But as we get closer to the draft, NFL draftniks are growing sour on Lemon.
To the point where now he’s not even called a top-5 wide receiver in his own class, so how could he be the 13th overall pick unless the group is just that talented at the top?
(Because it’s not that talented.)
NFL.com’s
Bucky Brooks ranked his top-5 wide receivers in the class and Lemon failed to make it, falling behind Jordyn Tyson, Carnell Tate, Chris Brazzell, Malachi Fields, and Denzel Boston, in that order.
And Chris Simms of NBC and Pro Football Talk posted his top-5, which started with Boston at number one, followed by Tyson, Brazzell, Tate, and Zachariah Branch.
Those lists are also much different than the consensus order at NFL Mock Draft Database, which has Tate, Lemon, Tyson, Omar Cooper, and Boston as the top-5. Even Kevin Concepcion ranks way ahead of Brazzell, who is still just prospect #50 overall.
Branch is 61st.
Of course, this is a time of year when being different means standing out. Just as Dan Orlovsky what he and his friends at CAA think of Ty Simpson as a better quarterback prospect than Fernando Mendoza.
But just because you’re different doesn’t mean you’re being different for the sake of it. And for Lemon to not rank in the top-5 of either of these lists—in a year without any great wide receiver prospects—it does more than just suggest that he could end up being a reach at 13.
Especially for an organization that found Cooper Kupp in the third round and Puka Nacua in the fifth round.
I mean, if there’s a class that is going to end up having the best receiver go outside of the top-80 picks, the 2026 wide receivers are not a bad test case. With so many players transferring these days, it’s difficult to project who is actually good at receiver vs. who is good at picking the right school to transfer to at the right time to boost his numbers.
Not long ago, USC’s receiver seemed like a lock for being a top-3 receiver in the class. With a month to go before the draft, it’s not so clear that the Rams will third for Lemon’s aid.
