- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 433,015
- Reaction score
- 44
You must be registered for see images attach
Utah State wide receiver Jalen Royals runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 1, 2025. | George Walker IV
Whenever Jalen Royals is selected in the 2025 NFL Draft this week (his projections are all over the place, from the second to the fourth round), the Utah State star wide receiver will have a chance to carve out a professional football playing career.
What will that career look like? How long will Royals make it in the NFL? What kind of player will he turn out to be? Those are questions that only he can answer.
Ahead of the draft, though, pundits have tried answering those questions themselves, via player comparisons. Royals may not being like any of the players he is compared to, but he certainly reminds people of them, and the idea is that he will mimic their respective careers.
Here are the players Royals is most often compared to, including three current NFL wide receivers and one retired one.
Jayden Reed
You must be registered for see images attach
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed (11) catches a pass agasint Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard III (31) and linebacker T.J. Edwards (53) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Green Bay, Wis. | Morry Gash
- 5-foot-11
- 187 pounds
- Drafted in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft.
In two seasons played in the NFL so far, both with the Green Bay Packers, Reed has been highly productive as a slot receiver — the position Royals is expected to play in the NFL.
Reed has played in 33 games, starting 23, and has racked up 1,650 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns.
Reed did not have the most favorable of draft grades coming out of Michigan State. Many scouts considered him not athletic enough and fairly slight of build without the best hands either, but he has proven a very productive NFL slot receiver in spite of that.
Reed has his warts, to be sure. He is not a great blocker (run or pass), and he doesn’t often get himself open, though he is able to generate good yards after the catch.
He has improved as pass catcher though. As a rookie in 2023 he caught 68% of the passes thrown to him but this past season improved that to 73%, per Pro Football Reference.
Mike Wallace
You must be registered for see images attach
Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Mike Wallace (17) catches a pass against Cleveland Browns defensive back Jason McCourty (30) during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017, in Cleveland. | David Richard
- 6-feet
- 200 pounds
- Drafted in the third round of the 2009 NFL draft.
Wallace played 10 years in the NFL and was highly productive across stints with five different teams.
Similar to Royals in term of his size and speed, Wallace played on the outside a lot as a deep threat. He was fairly successful at it, averaging 15 yards per reception over the course of his career.
Wallace did play in the slot at times, though not primarily.
Because of his time spent as a outside weapon, Wallace didn’t have the best track record of hauling in passes. He caught just over 57% of the passes thrown to him in his career.
With over 8,000 receiving yards and 57 touchdown receptions in his career, though, Wallace had the type of NFL career that almost any mid-round wide receiver would hope for.
Rashee Rice
You must be registered for see images attach
Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Rashee Rice (4) makes the cach against the Atlanta Falcons during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Atlanta. | John Bazemore
- 6-foot-1
- 204 pounds
- Drafted in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft.
An inch taller than Royals, Rice has played primarily in the slot during his two years in the NFL, though he has also played on the outside at times.
Speed is Rice’s strength, with the Chiefs frequently using him as a weapon with jet sweeps. Rice is a solid blocker, though, and he has caught better than 75% of the passes thrown to him as a pro.
In many ways, Rice has looked like an ideal slot receiver, though his career is still young.
Rice tore his lateral collateral ligament during Week 4 of the 2024 season, which cut short additional opportunities for growth, but all signs point to him having a solid career as a pro, if not better.
Chris Godwin
You must be registered for see images attach
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin (14) runs against the New Orleans Saints in an NFL football game in New Orleans, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. | Michael Conroy
- 6-foot-1
- 209 pounds
- Drafted in the third round of the 2017 NFL draft.
Most productive as a slot receiver during his eight-year career, Godwin has been a good pro since being drafted by Tampa Bay in 2017. Godwin has shifted to the outside at times, multiple seasons even, but his strength has always been in the slot.
A good blocker and a better pass catcher — he’s caught better than 70% of passes thrown to him in his pro career — Godwin has racked up more than 7,000 receiving yards and 39 touchdown receptions in his tenure with the Bucs.
Similar to Reed and Rice, Godwin is best after the catch, good at eluding tacklers once he has the ball rather than creating separation during his routes.
What do these player comparisons say about Jalen Royals?
You must be registered for see images attach
Utah State wide receiver Jalen Royals (1) catches a pass as James Madison safety DJ Barksdale (32) defends during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in Logan, Utah. (Eli Lucero/Herald Journal via AP) | AP
It isn’t hard to see why Royals has been compared to any of Reed, Wallace, Rice or Godwin.
Projected primarily as a slot receiver in the NFL (some have him in the Z-receiver role), Royals is the same size (6-feet, 205 pounds) as many of the better ones in the NFL.
Draft experts have had questions about Royals’ ability to beat press coverage — largely due to a lack of explosiveness off the line of scrimmage — but his speed and body control are real pluses.
There are questions about his ability to get significant separation from NFL defensive backs (not unlike Reed, Rice and Godwin), but Royals is expected to be a very effective receiver against zone coverages.
If Royals is able to have the sort of career of any of the aforementioned players (Wallace and Godwin especially given how recently Reed and Rice entered the league) it will be a major success.
An eight to 10-year productive playing career as a good starter should be the goal.
Continue reading...
