makai lemon
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USC WR Makai Lemon.
The Las Vegas Raiders using the No. 1 pick on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza seems like a formality at this point, but there are many other needs across the roster. With a rookie quarterback coming in, wide receiver should be high on the list of needs the team needs to address.
The Raiders already have speed in Tre Tucker and Dont’e Thornton. There also seems to be a chance that they’ll sign Seattle Seahawks speedster Rashid Shaheed in free agency.
If the Raiders are going to draft a wide receiver, picking up a strong route runner who can make plays in the middle of the field makes a lot of sense. In that sense, USC’s Makai Lemon makes sense in Las Vegas.
He’s one of the top wide receivers in the draft, and actually has a connection to the Raiders. He was asked what his favorite team was growing up, and he revealed that he learned to love the Raiders because his dad was a big fan of the franchise.
“Coming from my pops, he was always a Raiders fan back when they was in Oakland,” Lemon said on “PFT Live.” “Just grew up liking them.”
Lemon Will Likely Be a First-Round Pick
If the Raiders like Lemon, they have a problem. He’s widely expected to be a first-round pick. Las Vegas is almost certainly using their first-round pick on a quarterback, so the only way they’d have a shot at Lemon is if they traded back into the first round.
Now, Lemon decided against running a 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. He also had a viral interview that led to people thinking he has an odd personality. While that shouldn’t really affect how he plays on the field, it’s possible he could turn some NFL teams off.
That could theoretically make it possible that he slips to the Raiders in the second round, but his tape is likely too strong for that to actually happen.
Scouting Report on Lemon
Lemon isn’t going to blow any minds with his elite speed, but he’s a very good player. He won the Fred Biletnikoff Award in 2025 for the nation’s top wide receiver. He could be a very productive NFL player as a rookie.
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein is high on Lemon and compared him to Detroit Lions star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
“High-skill, high-volume slot receiver with average size but extraordinary ball skills,” Zierlein wrote. “Lemon has room for refinement, but not much. He’s intelligent, confident and polished with the ability to make plays on all three levels. Tempo-driven route-runner who misdirects man coverage and separates out of turns but is fairly average after the catch. Quicker than fast, featuring early acceleration to open seam throws but flashes late burst when needed. More play strength is needed for NFL press and he needs to avoid rushing through multi-breaking routes. He’s an exceptional ball-tracker with excellent catch timing and few focus drops. He wins more combat catches than he loses. Lemon is a plug-and-play, quarterback-friendly talent with first-round value and Pro Bowl upside.”