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Mahomes' New Chiefs Weapon Named 'Most Interesting'

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Adam Schultz | Last updated Jun 3, 2025 8:44 AM ET

The Kansas City Chiefs brought back several weapons from last season in free agency, including Marquise Brown, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Kareem Hunt.

But in the draft, the Chiefs wanted to add more depth at the receiver position, and they took Utah State's Jalen Royals in the fourth round.

Given the organization Royals is going to and the long-standing, high-level nature of the Chiefs' offense, which thanks to Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, is one of the better units in football, Royals is perhaps in the best place for a rookie receiver.

And it is due to that, CBS Sports has named the selection of Royals as Kansas City's most interesting selection on the NFL Draft.

"Whenever Patrick Mahomes gets a new weapon, we take notice," CBS Sports writes. "Royals was projected as a second- or third-round prospect, but was still available to Kansas City by the end of the fourth. During his final collegiate season, Royals was second-team All-Mountain West after posting 834 yards and six touchdowns in just seven games played."

Running a very respectable 4.42 at the scouting combine, Royals comes to a receiver room that doesn't have many speed merchants outside of Xavier Worthy.

Able to stress a defense with his ability to get downfield, having Royals galloping past defenders could open up the chance for Mahomes to dial up the launch codes and go deep.

If the home-run threat isn't enough, he's able to take quick passes and turn upfield for big gains, which we saw Worthy do last year. Royals in space with his speed is nightmare fuel for defenses, considering they already have to deal with Worthy.

Given the variety of ways Reid and Matt Nagy can deploy him, makes Royals the very definition of an "interesting" pick.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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