The whole Matt Harmon video on Lemon from 3 weeks ago

1 minute ago, HazletonEagle said:

bad?

He may not be your cup of tea. But bad WR?

I'm not referring to him. I'm referring to every WR the Eagles have ever drafted between Maclin and Devonta Smith (and after so far).

I'm skeptical because of track record.

3 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

I think regardless of what anyone thinks of the pick right now, or the value which disappoints me, eagles fans are going to be won over by this guy's toughness on the football field.

He is going to go catch a hospital ball with no regard for his life, or break some tackles you never expect him to break, or put his shoulder down at the goal line, and people are just going to love rooting for him and watching the way he plays.

These particular highlights in this short clip get the blood pumping and its hard to imagine this guy not having at least a very solid floor.

I don’t mind the pick. I don’t love it, but I also don’t hate it. I understand why they did it. Even last night i said i bet mannion views Lemon as the guy who can be their Jayden Reed in this offense. Frankly, I don’t think this is a very good draft. Some years are better than others. 2027 is expected to be better than the 2026 draft (why i much rather trade Aj for picks in that draft). The NBA this year is just the opposite. It’s expected to be a great first round in terms of talent but in 2027 it is expected to see a drop off and rather significantly.

So I’d rather the Eagles not sit at 23 and let the board fall to them and then have to make a decision on guys they graded lower and aren’t nearly as high on.I much rather they go get somebody they actually believe in and graded significantly higher rather than pick between a couple guys they kinda like, but aren’t head over heels or have nearly graded as high.

Imo his success or failure feels more predicated on the eagles, mannion and hurts ability to utilize the middle of the field like we did back in 2022.

Just now, TEW said:

Again, we have actual official measurements and they do not match your claims.

Whatever. You're nitpicking a half inch or a few pounds, which is not a "gross exaggeration." A gross exaggeration would be saying that Nacua is 5 inches taller and 40 pounds bigger.

16 minutes ago, Connecticut Eagle said:

Is he trolling? Why is he acting like that over the 6 or 7 best receiver lol

1 minute ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Imo his success or failure feels more predicated on the eagles, mannion and hurts ability to utilize the middle of the field like we did back in 2022.

Bingo.

This guy is quick enough to get open. And smart enough to find the voids in zone. He is going to catch everything, and he is going to make plays with the ball in his hands. Will Mannion put him in the right positions, and will Hurts actually throw him the ball? If his guy is a target monster in the slot, he will quickly become a feared playmaker. If he is utilized like Dotson, people will think he sucks.

10 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

I think regardless of what anyone thinks of the pick right now, or the value which disappoints me, eagles fans are going to be won over by this guy's toughness on the football field.

He is going to go catch a hospital ball with no regard for his life, or break some tackles you never expect him to break, or put his shoulder down at the goal line, and people are just going to love rooting for him and watching the way he plays.

These particular highlights in this short clip get the blood pumping and its hard to imagine this guy not having at least a very solid floor.

Can't view value in a vacuum though. While I'm not over the moon with the player, there was a significant drop off in terms of the board after Lemon. The Eagles would have been taking a clear full tier below player if they had not traded up. So I think it was a bit pricey, but also I'd have regretted it a lot more if they just stood pat and took like Lawrence or something. Even a guy like Iheanachor I would have coped with, but I was never in love with the player, it was more "He's probably best OT on the board at 23 with the most upside, so cool" but I wouldn't be jumping for joy with Iheanachor and he's definitely well below Lemon in terms of value.

So I think the price was worth it to secure a top 15 player in a draft and not have to settle like they did the Marcus Smith year where they lost out on all the 1st round graded guys.

USC Trojans On SI

Makai Lemon Might Be the Biggest Winner of Jaxson Smith-N...

Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba just reset the wide receiver market and in doing so, he may have boosted USC Trojans star Makai Lemon’s draft

It is true that Jaxson Smith-Njigba and Amon-ra St. Brown got Lemon drafted where he was. Antonio Brown is another interesting comp (and Steelers were about to take him).

I'll give you he's a very similar player. There's a fine line between identifying the new mold of NFL WR1 and nabbing him at 20 in a weak draft.......and drafting an underwhelming talent who merely shares weaknesses with a few all-pro's.

Just now, Sack that QB said:

Can't view value in a vacuum though. While I'm not over the moon with the player, there was a significant drop off in terms of the board after Lemon. The Eagles would have been taking a clear full tier below player if they had not traded up. So I think it was a bit pricey, but also I'd have regretted it a lot more if they just stood pat and took like Lawrence or something. Even a guy like Iheanachor I would have coped with, but I was never in love with the player, it was more "He's probably best OT on the board at 23 with the most upside, so cool" but I wouldn't be jumping for joy with Iheanachor and he's definitely well below Lemon in terms of value.

So I think the price was worth it to secure a top 15 player in a draft and not have to settle like they did the Marcus Smith year where they lost out on all the 1st round graded guys.

I think you get almost the same player with Concepcion staying pat and keeping those extra picks.

The value of this is what really keeps my excitement down more so than the player.

I've had time to get over the Lemon pick from last night so I watched the actual full USC - Iowa game from last year so I could watch Lemon. USC had a bad first half but especially Lemon blew it up in the second half.

Finished with 10 rec, 153 yards and 1 TD - this is what I noticed.

1. he's a willing blocker

2. he has the ability to play the left AND right sides

3. he has return ability.

I feel better about the pick now, also since every video that I've seen on here has the "experts" praising the pick.

I'll just reiterate that the Eagles generally hit home runs when they draft explosive physical talents in need of seasoning.

They have a very high failure rate when drafting limited players without overwhelming explosive talent. So I need the team, more so than Lemon, to prove me wrong that they can actually convert this type of prospect into a stud before I'll believe in Lemon.

7 minutes ago, eagle45 said:

I'm not referring to him. I'm referring to every WR the Eagles have ever drafted between Maclin and Devonta Smith (and after so far).

I'm skeptical because of track record.

They haven’t drafted a receiver in the first 4 rds since Devonta. I’ve noticed you are extremely negative about pretty much everything but this is a weird one. The dude can obviously play. Will he be Nacua? Who knows but he didn’t suck. His floor is good.

ESPNs Matt Miller has us going Pregnon and Allar this evening

Id be okay with Pregnon but Allar..... ROFLMAO 🤣

9 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Whatever. You're nitpicking a half inch or a few pounds, which is not a "gross exaggeration." A gross exaggeration would be saying that Nacua is 5 inches taller and 40 pounds bigger.

I’m not nitpicking, you are exaggerating. Let’s stick to facts if we are going to make arguments based on readily verifiable measurements.

1 minute ago, Sack that QB said:

Can't view value in a vacuum though. While I'm not over the moon with the player, there was a significant drop off in terms of the board after Lemon. The Eagles would have been taking a clear full tier below player if they had not traded up. So I think it was a bit pricey, but also I'd have regretted it a lot more if they just stood pat and took like Lawrence or something. Even a guy like Iheanachor I would have coped with, but I was never in love with the player, it was more "He's probably best OT on the board at 23 with the most upside, so cool" but I wouldn't be jumping for joy with Iheanachor and he's definitely well below Lemon in terms of value.

So I think the price was worth it to secure a top 15 player in a draft and not have to settle like they did the Marcus Smith year where they lost out on all the 1st round graded guys.

This.

Howie basically implied that they had only 15 players with first round grades. If they didn't make that trade/pick, I believe that he would have traded back/out and not waste the 23rd pick on a player not worthy of that slot.

Folks here are welcome to their opinions, but here are two consensus boards had Lemon 10ish spots above Concepcion and Cooper.

NFL Mock Draft Database

2026 NFL Consensus Big Board — Top Prospects Ranked | NFL...

The 2026 NFL consensus big board, aggregated from 3079 sources. The definitive prospect rankings.

Tankathon

2026 NFL Draft Big Board | Tankathon

Ranking of the top college prospects for the 2026 NFL Draft.

20 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

You keep reporting on what Gargano says as if he has ever been anyone other than a guy who has horrible sources or pulls things out of his ass.

Lol, yep. Not to mention "Fran said......"

2 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

Bingo.

This guy is quick enough to get open. And smart enough to find the voids in zone. He is going to catch everything, and he is going to make plays with the ball in his hands. Will Mannion put him in the right positions, and will Hurts actually throw him the ball? If his guy is a target monster in the slot, he will quickly become a feared playmaker. If he is utilized like Dotson, people will think he sucks.

People aren’t gonna like me saying the next paragraph after this, but this pick was made for the scheme and giving hurts the guys that can fit it and make it work at a level close to what GB does analytically. I’d say ram but Stafford and mcvey is hard to see in a year 1 of learning the system. to me this is going to be a big year for Jalen hurts. Now I think there are going to be growing pains early in the season because you’re learning a new offense that you really haven’t run before and it’s gonna take a little bit of time.

Hopefully it doesn’t come to this by year’s end and the offense looks great. However, if we get to the end of the year and we are still struggling with middle of the field throws and utilizing middle of the field and the offense is mediocre (or bad again), then there needs to be the conversation of is Jalen hurts the right quarterback to run the system/scheme or you wanna just go away from the system/scheme and build the offense around what Jalen hurts does well. if the choose the ladder, then this pick would ultimately start looking worse cause i actually think lemon is a great fit for a mcvey type offense unless he just completely is a bust which i dont see that.

Like I said, I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that scenario and we can utilize the middle of the field like we did in 2022 and have great success. That is my ultimate hope. But there is the possibility of the other and if that happens, the discussion needs to be had inside the Eagles organization.

7 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

I think you get almost the same player with Concepcion staying pat and keeping those extra picks.

The value of this is what really keeps my excitement down more so than the player.

I like Concepcion too but there is one MAJOR difference between the two. Lemon never drops the ball, Concepcion has legit drop issues. Kind of a big deal for a WR.

4 minutes ago, DaBirds said:

They haven’t drafted a receiver in the first 4 rds since Devonta. I’ve noticed you are extremely negative about pretty much everything but this is a weird one. The dude can obviously play. Will he be Nacua? Who knows but he didn’t suck. His floor is good.

Nah. I've had a positive reaction to almost every pick we've had for a long time now. I just stick to my opinion on a player and a fit after we draft him. And a negative reaction to a first round pick (unless they draft some 5th round prospect) on draft day essentially isn't tolerated around here.

5 minutes ago, TEW said:

I’m not nitpicking, you are exaggerating. Let’s stick to facts if we are going to make arguments based on readily verifiable measurements.

Wait, you mean 5 pounds isn’t the same as 20?

30 minutes ago, HazletonEagle said:

They have a very weird inferiority complex with this team. I dont get it...

Because they know that Reggie is ours, not theirs.

1 minute ago, eagle45 said:

Nah. I've had a positive reaction to almost every pick we've had for a long time now. I just stick to my opinion on a player and a fit after we draft him. And a negative reaction to a first round pick (unless they draft some 5th round prospect) on draft day essentially isn't tolerated around here.

Fair. I wasn’t trying to attack you personally, you just seem like a glass half empty kind of guy. 😄

4 minutes ago, TEW said:

I’m not nitpicking, you are exaggerating. Let’s stick to facts if we are going to make arguments based on readily verifiable measurements.

He isn't big on facts. This is the guy who insisted for weeks that "there was no proof of any wrong doing" from Vrabel and Hoesini after the first pictures came out (eventhough it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that they were banging) and it's been crickets ever since after the piles of evidence that continue to come out.

He also argued with me for months that AJ Brown wasn't getting traded and it was "all made up by the media," "he never requested a trade, he isn't unhappy here" etc etc. We have all seen where that has gone/where it's heading. It's gotten to the point that I made him my prison **** so bad with that argument that he won't even F with me on the blog.

In other words, don't waste your time with the biggest moron/**** on the board.

3 minutes ago, T-1000 said:

I like Concepcion too but there is one MAJOR difference between the two. Lemon never drops the ball, Concepcion has legit drop issues. Kind of a big deal for a WR.

With wicks having drop issues (i believe i read that) i can see why the eagles would want lemon over KC. Can’t have multiple guys out there where you have to be concerned whether they are dropping it or catching it when the throw is made 

That said even when they trade AJ Brown, this is still one of the deeper wide receiving corps we have had in the last 20 years. Legitimately we have not had a fourth wide receiver with the talent that Hollywood Brown possesses if he stays healthy.

2 minutes ago, DaBirds said:

Fair. I wasn’t trying to attack you personally, you just seem like a glass half empty kind of guy. 😄

I prefer to label it a poor tolerance of deviation from perfection. I'm sure the blog has other words for it.