Eagles WR Makai Lemon Healthy For Camp

Considered a pro-ready prospect, a healthy Lemon will have a chance to carve out a major role in Philadelphia from the get-go. Having traded up three spots to draft Lemon 20th overall, the Eagles are banking on the former USC standout continuing to progress. The sure-handed Lemon jumped from six catches to 52 to 79 during his three seasons as a member of the Trojans, with whom he dropped just four passes in 33 games. Lemon earned last year’s Fred Biletnikoff Award, which is given to the nation’s premier receiver, after piling up 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns in a dozen games.

On the night he became an Eagle, Lemon joined a crowded receiving corps that featured a top four of A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dontayvion Wicks and Marquise Brown. But the Eagles later sent A.J. Brown to the Patriots in a June 1 trade that everyone who follows the sport knew was coming. The deal alleviated the Eagles’ logjam at the position and cleared a path for Lemon to become one of their go-to pass catchers as a rookie. He could team with Smith and Wicks to comprise Philadelphia’s main trio at receiver.

Smith will take over for Brown as the Eagles’ No. 1 option, while Wicks looks poised to make a more meaningful impact than he did as a Packer during his first three seasons. Wicks averaged a modest 40 catches, 491 yards and TDs per 17 games in Green Bay, but Philadelphia gave up two picks for him (a 2026 fifth-rounder and a 2027 sixth-rounder) and then immediately handed him a one-year, $12.5MM extension.

The 5-foot-11, 192-pound Lemon lined up in the slot roughly 76% of the time in college. If that continues, Brown and Wicks will be first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion‘s one-two punch on the perimeter. With those three and Marquise Brown at wideout, the tight end duo of Dallas Goedert and second-round rookie Eli Stowers, and running back Saquon Barkley, Mannion and quarterback Jalen Hurts could have a stockpile of weapons in 2026.