Is USC's Makai Lemon overrated?
Yahoo Sports NFL analyst Nate Tice and NFL writer Charles McDonald explain why they're lower than the consensus on Makai Lemon in the 2026 NFL draft. Check out the full conversation on “Football 301” - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
We are both lower on, and I'm actually kind of I actually, you're even lower than I am, is Mekhi Lemon, q- receiver from USC.
You had him at 37.
I had him at 25, and I thought I was gonna be the low guy.
The consensus is 12.
And I'm kind of shocked some people ha- don't have more questions on him than maybe you and I do.
But why do you have Lemon maybe a little bit lower?
Which, actually, I'll have a follow-up question about maybe which receivers you have above him.
I, the receivers I had, I know I had, I, I might have had three.
I had, I know I had three for sure off the top of my head.
Okay.
with Jordan Tyson was one for me.
Cardinale Tate- Yep was two.
Boston, three.
And I think Lemon was four.
Okay.
I mean, I don't think It's, okay, I, I, I, I tend to be a junkie some- like, for rare, rare skill sets, as I'm sure we'll get to in the Caleb Banks discussion in a bit.
I, I don't know.
It j- it, it just seems like athletically, th- there's, there's a lot of guys.
Like, there's a lot of Mekhi Lemons, like, in the NFL right now.
I, I, I, I guess I'm just trying to see, like, what part of his skill set is so hard to find that you would need to take it top 12. and it, and, and it's not really a slight to him.
it's more just, like, a nod to, like, how good these receivers are.
and I, I, I- and this could be totally wrong here.
you know, maybe I'm, I'm too low on this, but I don't really see, like, a number one, like, "I'm gonna feed my offense through this kind of guy" receiver.
Which, which for me, like, with how receivers are now and how good receivers are, I don't need to take that round one at all.
if I, if I don't, if I don't think you're a number one receiver, then, I mean, we can just do this day two and, and try to just, like, mism- match together, you know, archetypes and body types at, at, in the room.
But, I, I, I don't really see, like, a 150 target player in the NFL.
Which, like, if you're gonna be ranked 12th, you know- Yeah you need to be one of the dudes in the NFL as far as- Snaps impacted.
Right.
Like, that's- Right.
That's good, yeah.
Volume.
Yes.
Like volume and efficiency at the same time, and that's, that's tough to do at, you know, what, 5'11", 190. and he's not, like, the fastest player in the world.
It's not like he's- Didn't test yet this otherworldly athlete.
He- or he hasn't tested yet.
he's got small hands too.
eight-inch hands.
Yeah, ninth, ninth percentile hands.
Right.
So, I don't know.
16 percentile arm length.
Yeah.
Th- it's like, it's like the profile of, of a strong, like, supplementary receiver.
Which- Yep just means it's a round, round two grade.
I, I just, I- I can see it I didn't see, like, the physical, like, skill set where I feel like I gotta take him top 12.
'Cause to me, like, when I watch Jordan Tyson at his best, I'm like, "Whoa, okay."
Yep.
Like, there's a level of, like, physical domination here that is, is, is, that you, you can't always teach.
Even with Cardinale Tate, even though he's not the fastest guy, like, the strength and the body control- Yes to kind of go up and, and make up for some of the speed deficiencies, it's there.
Uh- Yeah Denzel Boston, you know, big receiver.
Yes.
Like, you're gonna go be able to take, take punishment like that.
you know, unless Mekhi Lemon is, like, this Amon-Ra level outlier, which, I mean, I'm, I'm not, I'm not there.
Um- Yeah.
I don't, I just- I don't see that comparison I don't really see a, a rare enough skill set for round one.
