Makai Lemon 2026 NFL Draft scouting report: The next Jaxon Smith-Njigba?

Makai Lemon was born roughly 25 miles southeast of the University of Southern California campus in 2004, and his parents noticed his athleticism early. His father, Mike Lemon, played running back at UNLV, and his uncle, Tim Lemon, was a second-round pick by Major League Baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals, so it was no surprise when the family found Makai doing skateboard tricks at three years old.

Sports soon became part of his routine, and football took center stage around the time he was 11. He routinely played both sides of the ball and won with the Garden Grove Bulldogs in Pop Warner, including a national title.

Not surprisingly, Lemon became a high school sensation, first with La Mirada and then at Los Alamitos, where he played with his Pop Warner quarterback, Malachi Nelson. Lemon earned MaxPreps first-team all-state honors in each of his final three years and MaxPreps first-team All-American honors in each of his final two. He played in the Under Armour All-American Bowl following the 2022 season and was on the same team as fellow 2026 draftees running back Jeremiyah Love and wide receiver Zachariah Branch.

Lemon began drawing attention from college recruiters as early as his freshman year, receiving an offer from Colorado. Arizona State and Oregon State followed, and while Lemon badly wanted to stay close to home and play for Southern Cal — which also offered him — Oklahoma and Lincoln Riley eventually won him over, and he initially committed there in August 2021.

Three months later, however, Riley left the Sooners to become the USC Trojans’ head coach and pushed for Lemon to join him. Lemon admitted it wasn’t a hard decision to flip his commitment to Southern Cal, which he did that December as a four-star prospect, per 247Sports. Lemon then remained committed to the Trojans for his entire collegiate career, refusing to consider transferring.

Note: ⭐️ represents Lemon’s 247Sports star rating as a high school recruit.

Makai Lemon NFL Draft profile

• Hand size: 8 ¾ inches
• Arm length: 30 ½ inches
• Wingspan: 73¼ inches
• Comparable body-type to: Curtis Samuel

CBS prospect ranking

Position: No. 4 WR | Overall: No. 18

To check out all of CBSSports.com’s most recent mock drafts, click here.

NFL comparison: Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Based on his film, Lemon is one of the cleanest, most polished prospects in the 2026 draft class. His greatest strengths are his hands, his change of direction, his toughness and his versatility. His weaknesses? There aren’t many, but he’s one of those guys who you’ll say “fast but not the fastest” or “strong but not the strongest.” All that said, there were the same kind of mild concerns for Jaxon Smith-Njigba when he came into the league and he easily overcame them once he got a shot to lead Seattle’s receiving group. Lemon is a little bit faster than Smith-Njigba and the same kind of competitor and mature leader otherwise.

About

• 2025: Unanimous All-American
• 2025: Fred Biletnikoff Award winner (nation’s top receiver)
• 2025: Polynesian College Football Player of the Year
• Two-time All-Big Ten (first team in 2025, third team in 2024)
• 2025: Finished top 10 in FBS in receiving yards (1,156) and receiving TD (11) and third in yards per game (96.3)
• Among top WR prospects in the class (Lemon, Carnell Tate, Jordyn Tyson, Denzel Boston, KC Concepcion), led the group in tackle avoided rate (26.6%), explosive catch rate (28.7%) and yards per route run (3.22)
• High-impact red-zone threat with an 80.9% red-zone route participation rate — higher than Concepcion (75%), Boston (67.6%), Tyson (65%) and Tate (55.4%)

• Caught 11 of 12 red-zone targets in 2025, scoring on seven of his final 10 red-zone targets; also went untouched on two four-yard hand-offs that went for scores

College stats

NFL combine 2026: Grades for top WR prospects, plus other standout performers from on-field workouts

JP Acosta

Strengths

• Tightly built with long-for-his-frame arms and relatively thick quads for a receiver his size.
• Lined up across the formation. While he spent a lot of time in the slot at Southern Cal, Lemon played there less in 2025 (65.6%) than in 2024 (86.3%). Coaches also used him in motion frequently.
• Generally showed good route variety, with plenty of double moves mixed in. He specialized in the hitch, go, out and crosser/over.
• Got off the snap with good burst — sometimes great burst — especially when he sensed he had a chance to get the ball.
• Did a nice job running routes at a controlled pace most of the time, though he occasionally worked a little too impatiently or made too many cuts and fell behind the timing with his quarterback.
• Used lateral agility through hesitations, jab steps, jump cuts and skips both off the snap and within his routes, winning a lot of reps by selling one route before exploding into another.
• There were many examples of Lemon’s expert understanding of when to change pace and slow down (or speed up) against zone coverage. It’s one less thing coaches will have to spend much time teaching.
• Good acceleration helped him reach very good speed on downfield routes. Only the fastest defensive backs will be able to keep up with Lemon.
• Was effective at cutting and changing direction as part of his route running. Lemon could be sudden at times and turned back to the quarterback on hitch routes in two to three steps. He did a better job using his jukes to evade defenders after the catch than before it.

• Elite body control. He knew when to peel off defenders and time his movement with the arrival of the ball to make a play. He might not set records in the vertical jump, but he was adept at positioning himself and high-pointing passes above the rim.

• Phenomenal at tracking, concentrating on, adjusting to and ultimately catching the football. He made a number of grabs in contested situations (66.7% contested catch win rate, per PFF), whether with an arm in his face or a defender on his back. His hands are excellent — many of his receptions last year came with the ball secured away from his body before he tucked it to finish the play. Over his past two seasons, Lemon had three drops on 175 targets, a 1.7% rate that any coach in any offense would welcome.

• Balance through contact was a plus.
• Plays tough, nasty and fearless. Getting physical was never an issue for Lemon.
• Came up big on a number of occasions during off-schedule plays simply by paying attention to his quarterback and scrambling to make himself available for a target.

• Excels at following blockers into open space after the catch.
• While coaches may find his blocking inconsistent, none will question his effort. It’s clear he understands the importance of blocking.
• Missed one game due to injury at USC after suffering whiplash while covering a punt return on special teams in 2024. No other injuries have been reported dating back to high school.
• Teammates and coaches describe Lemon as an “old soul” who stays singularly focused on football. He comes across as mature in interviews dating back to high school. The closest he has come to disciplinary trouble was getting benched for one quarter against UCLA last year for violating team policy.

Concerns

• NFL personnel who rely on measurement thresholds may hesitate to consider Lemon within the top 100 picks because of his small hands (8¾ inches). There aren’t many wide receivers who consistently produce with hands that small. Over the past five seasons, there have been just five instances of a receiver topping 1,000 yards and three instances of a receiver catching 80-plus passes with sub-9-inch hands (George Pickens is the most recent example for both). Since players’ hands obviously won’t grow, teams must be comfortable with that limitation before moving forward with Lemon.
• Occasional route mishaps included rounded cuts, tipping off defenders and drifting too close to opponents without proper spacing. These were rare issues and largely correctable.
• Didn’t consistently shake defensive backs in his routes, particularly when trying to separate purely with speed. For a player as twitchy as Lemon, it was somewhat surprising to see cornerbacks stay with him at times. Notre Dame’s Leonard Moore (a 2027 draft prospect) had notable success against him. Most of Lemon’s competition also came in the Big Ten rather than the SEC, where much of the top cornerback talent in the 2026 class resides.
• Struggled at times when pressed at the snap or when defenders got grabby within his routes.
• Extremely physical player, but his film and production suggest he isn’t great at generating big gains after first contact. Of his 131 receptions over the past two seasons, just nine produced 10-plus yards after first contact and four produced 20-plus yards. That’s not great, but still better than others at the top of this class. He’ll fight to stay on his feet and add extra yards, but big plays after contact were relatively rare.
• Willing blocker, though he occasionally struggled to finish his assignment.
• Effort selling the pass on run plays was inconsistent — excellent against Purdue last year but far less convincing against Illinois.

Bottom line

There really isn’t much Lemon can’t do at a high level. An offense that values versatile playmakers who can line up anywhere could prioritize Lemon over any other receiver in the class because he’s polished, quick, tough and sure-handed. He doesn’t carry injury concerns and contributes in nearly every facet of the receiving game. 

At minimum, Lemon projects as a reliable slot receiver capable of carving out a long NFL career with steady production. He also has the upside to become the type of receiver who posts around 90 receptions, 1,150 yards and seven-plus touchdowns in a season, even though the historical track record for receivers with small hands suggests otherwise. Lemon projects as a first-round pick, though likely not within the first 10 selections.