Makai Lemon Emerging as Strong First-Round Fit for Rams at No. 13

Spend any time perusing the mock drafts of some of the more leading purveyors of such content and certain players and being tied to certain teams at an alarming rate.

Sometimes it turns out to be groupthink and an elaborate ruse planted by a team or an agent. 

And sometimes it just is what it is. 

In the case of USC receiver Makai Lemon, who played his college football right under the Rams noses in Los Angeles, and him being viewed as a player that team’s coach covets, well, sometimes it’s a precursor to a selection that was seen as something of a slam dunk all along.

The Connection Is About More Than Geography 

Lemon doesn’t have every ideal trait that every team would prize in a wide receiver. He isn’t as big as many and he isn’t going to high point balls down the sidelines and win on the boundary like some others in this draft class. 

But he is the prototypical slot receiver and someone who is seen as lacking all the characteristics to dominate in a YAC (yards-after-catch) schemed offense, and given that Rams quarterback Matt Stafford is as precise as they come, and is the reigning MVP, this is a fit that other teams believe is going to happen.

“This kid was born to play in that offense,” said one longtime NFL personnel director. 

“He blocks his ass off in the run game and he is a YAC monster.”

McVay is notorious for creating match-up problems for defenses and disguising what his intended target is actually up and decoying them with motion. Lemon has sure hands has explosion after the catch. There is always the possibility that he is gone by the time the Rams pick at 13th overall, a position they have rarely enjoyed given their playoff appearances and willingness to trade first-round picks for proven veteran players.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed with it comes to a process as difficult to predict as a college draft. And the Rams could certainly use some fortification along the offensive line, and some hybrid safeties will certainly catch their attention as well, but expect to see plenty more people having Lemon going off the board at pick 13. And if I had to produce a mock draft right now, I’d be among them.

Lemon is also 7-1 at DraftKings to be the first receiver off the board, for now.