The Philadelphia Eagles selected Makai Lemon at 20th overall in the 2026 NFL Draft.
This all but ensures there is plenty of fire in the smoke that A.J. Brown will not be on the roster when they can move him after June 1st.
Let's look at the fantasy football outlook for Lemon in Philadelphia, both for seasonal leagues and Dynasty formats.
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Makai Lemon Fantasy Value With the Philadelphia Eagles
Lemon was the 2025 Biletnikoff Award winner, an award that new teammate DeVonta Smith also has in his trophy case.
Following a 2024 breakout at age 20, where he posted 3.03 yards per route run playing alongside Ja’Kobi Lane and Zachariah Branch, Lemon snagged 79 receptions for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns this past season.
In 2025, Lemon was targeted on 29.3% of his routes (7th in this class) with 3.13 yards per route run (2nd).
He is one of only two wideouts in this class to average over 3.0 yards per route run against both man coverage (3.29) and zone coverage (3.09).
He produced a first down or touchdown on 13.6% of his routes (3rd) while posting 2.75 yards per team pass attempt (2nd).
Lemon is a plug-and-play producer who can win on all three levels.
He was excellent after the catch, forcing a missed tackle on 26.6% of his receptions (8th).
Lemon averaged 6.4 yards after catch per reception, which was the third-highest among receivers in this class with an average depth of target over 10.0 yards downfield.
USC did get him the ball in the screen game (21.3% of his targets), but Lemon also pulled in 64% of his targets on throws 20-plus yards downfield (16 of 25), which was fourth in this class.
He led this draft class in receptions on throws of 20 or more yards downfield.
Lemon dabbled a little bit early on as a cornerback, which shows up in his understanding of spacing in zone coverage and in his release package at the line of scrimmage.
If there are any nits to pick with Lemon on the field, it is that he has not logged a significant amount of time playing outside in college and is not built like a prototypical lead wideout in the traditional sense.
Lemon ran 70.7% of his routes from the slot last season (8th in this class), where he caught 52 passes for 791 yards and 7 touchdowns.
At 5-foot-11 and 192 pounds, Lemon has 30.5-inch arms (12th percentile) and 8.75-inch hands (6th percentile).
That was not an issue for him when he was forced to win the contested catch game, however. He attacks the football and has won in his sample of contested targets.
His 2.2% career drop rate is the second-best in this class.
Lemon won 10 of his 15 contested catch opportunities (tied for 4th in this class).
He also converted 58.3% of his targets in the red zone (7 of 12) for scores, which was second in the class.
Lemon may take a step of faith in projection winning outside because he was so dominant from the slot, but when tasked to do so, he posted 3.37 yards per route run as an outside receiver as well.
Joining the Eagles, Lemon should play a hybrid role (assuming Brown is not on the roster).
He should be able to push past Dontayvion Wicks as the WR2 early on in 2WR sets and then kick inside when the Eagles play in 3WR sets.
Living as the WR2 in the Eagles' offense has been a volatile experience for fantasy gamers who have rostered Smith since the team added Brown.
Smith was a better prospect than Lemon, too.
That makes Lemon more of a weekly upside WR2/WR3 who can finish as a WR2-plus when his quarterback is on.
In terms of points per game, Smith was the WR31 last year (11.9), the WR17 in 2024 (15.3), the WR21 in 2023 (14.2), and the WR15 (15.0) in 2022.
Jalen Hurts is coming off a down year.
Hurts ended up with a 42.5% success rate, his lowest as a starter.
This scheme, under Kevin Patullo, has taken a lot of flak for the lack of creativity.
Hurts had the lowest screen target rate of his career (5.3%), which was 28th in the league.
18.1% of his throws were hitch routes, the second-highest rate of his career and fifth in the league.
Patullo is out as offensive coordinator, with Sean Mannion getting his first shot as a play caller.
Mannion comes over from serving as the offensive assistant and quarterbacks coach with Green Bay and Matt LaFleur.
Since Shane Steichen left after 2022, the Eagles have had a new offensive coordinator every season.
This will be the sixth different play caller that Hurts has had in the NFL.
In college, Hurts had four different play callers.
Hurts is still only turning 28 this August with two Super Bowl trips on his resume.
But he has struggled the most where Lemon won in college.
Over the past five seasons, Hurts has thrown the ball 34.3% of the time between the numbers.
That ranks last among 39 passers who qualify for the league’s pass rating.
The potential loss of Brown and the addition of Lemon will warp those numbers moving forward, but operating in the middle of the field has not been Hurts' strongest asset, and it takes a step of faith with Lemon winning heavily on the outside.