You Can’t Dictate the Board — So the Eagles Went Up and Took Makai Lemon

PHILADELPHIA — You can’t dictate the board.

While most will naturally link the Eagles' targeted move up for Southern California wide receiver Makai Lemon to the now-inevitable exit of A.J. Brown, business with the enemy was about securing one of the last first-round talents identified by Howie Roseman and his staff in the 2026 NFL Draft.

The Eagles moved up three spots to No. 20, and secured a 2027 seventh-round pick from their NFC East rival, the Dallas Cowboys, for Nos. 23, 114 and 137 to land Lemon — a shifty, precise route-runner many have compared to Detroit Lions star Amon-Ra St. Brown.

“We just felt this was a player we wanted to go up and get,” Eagles GM Howie Roseman said. “Where our board was at that time, where we were picking… it just made a lot of sense.”

At 5-foot-11 and 194 pounds with 4.50 speed, Lemon lacks elite size or top-end burst. What he offers instead is crafty route-running, physicality as a runner and at the catch point, and outstanding ball skills.

“Competitor. Has the ability to separate,” Roseman said when discussing Lemon's skill set. “In man coverage, out of the slot. He can play outside. Physical player. Really good with the ball in his hands and really good hands. Good in zone coverage. He has really good instincts.”

The Eagles had Lemon as a projected top-15 player in the draft. When he was still available at No. 20, they pounced.

“We stacked the board one through 23,” Roseman explained. “We broke that into tiers of guys we wanted and guys we felt we would trade up for. We kind of thought we had a really good sense of who the first 15 guys would be. One of those guys did not go in the first 15, and he was available to us.”

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