Jalen Royals 2025 NFL Draft Profile

Jalen Royals 2025 NFL Draft Profile

Jalen Royals is up next for the 2025 NFL Draft profile series. I’m going to be a party pooper for this one so how about we agree that anymore words for this intro are totally unnecessary and we keep things moving!

NFL Draft Stock Report: Senior Bowl (1), (2)

Royals, 22, was a zero star recruit coming out of high school and actually got his collegiate start at the JUCO level. In 11 games for Georgia Military College, Royals posted seven catches for 92 yards and two scores. He eventually found his way to Utah State doing nothing for them in 2022. 2023 was by far his best season reeling in 71 receptions for 1,080 yards, and 15 scores. Those numbers dipped his final year posting 55 receptions for 834 yards and six scores but that was in seven games missing time with a foot injury.

I’ll say this before I start. Royals definitely suffered from some bad QB play Spencer Petras (who I already discussed) is horrible. Putting that aside, I think the concerning part here is the fact that Royals did next to nothing when he faced real competition. He notched 44 yards against Utah and 47 yards against trash defense USC. Having some big games against scrub Mountain West teams is cool but it probably doesn’t mean much.

Royals never really swayed my opinion during the predraft process. I thought it was a lot of okay at the Senior Bowl. Ditto for the Combine. He ran pretty fast but there was never a time throughout this whole process where he wowed me. He’s also not overly big at 6-foot, 205. Faster than quick. The short area stuff puts me to sleep. In fairness, the 10-yard time is very good. I more so mean the twitched up route running not so much.

We can go through the data but I’m not sure it’s relevant given the competition. Number one in the class in contested catch rate. 26.4% missed tackle rate is also one of the best marks in the class. He’s won contested catches and can make something out of it when the ball is in his hands. I’m just not sure any of it matters at the NFL level. 3.7% drop rate is also one of the better marks as well.

This is the problem. I’m just not sure what Royals can do at the next level beyond some downfield vertical plays. Is this actually a real receiver who is going to do damage all over the field? I doubt it. 31% of his receptions were on screens. A lot of get the ball in his hands and hope the speed wins against trash teams.

I don’t really get the hype with this one. I assume most of the hype came from the crack pipe that Steve Smith smoked. If you’re reading this, feel free to tell me I said that too. I scout receivers way better than him but that’s a story for another day. I have a 6th-7th round grade on Jalen Royals as someone who can be a speed option further down the depth chart.

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