2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Jalen Royals

Last Updated: 2/4/2025

Career Stats

Summary 

Jalen Royals exploded onto the scene as a junior, amassing the third-most receiving yards in the Mountain West (1,080) and leading the conference with 15 touchdowns, a mark good enough for second in the NCAA. Rightfully so, there was a ton of hype entering his senior year. It started off tremendous, pacing to set career highs in every category, but the season was derailed by a foot injury that forced him to miss the entire second half of the season. Impressively, his 834 yards and 6 receiving touchdowns were still good enough for top-10 marks in the Mountain West.

Royals is on the shorter side of the prototypical build, but ha has a thick frame, measuring in at 5-foot-11 and 210 pounds. This is no surprise, as his tape is littered with plenty of physicality. We see it most after the catch, where his ability is underrated, often bullying defenders and breaking through would be tacklers with ease. We also see him display some twitch after the catch, but he is not proficient here. There is also a question around his speed — we saw him house deep balls regularly, but we also saw reps where he was easily run down by defenders. 

When it comes to the receiving game, he is a technician. He needs to improve and expand his releases, often benefiting from off coverage often in his college career. When given this off coverage, Royals was a menace, he understands how to manipulate his stride and speed while playing chess with the defender within his route. Once the defender bites, he is out of the gate with strong acceleration and an open stride. He excelled in this area at Utah State, and most of his big plays came from these “double move”-type routes. His ability to understand and weaponize leverage makes him a threat at all three levels while making soft breaking routes look easy. We did not see a ton of hard in breaking or out breaking routes thus far and it is likely due to his stiffness and lack of quick twitch. We also saw him struggle to identify coverages and void space at times with a few miscommunication between him and his quarterback.
At the catch point, Royals didn’t find himself in too many contested situations, and when he did he was lacking. He does display good ball skills, especially tracking the ball in the air on deeper routes. His soft hands and transitions from receiver to runner are smooth. He also displays the knowledge of when to attack the ball or let it come to him. We also saw comfortability to catch outside his frame in stride and late hands in tight coverage as well. 

Strengths

• Route running
• Manipulator of speed and leverage
• Reliable hands  

Weaknesses

• Stiff runner
• Contested situations
• Long speed
• Lack of tested releases 

Honors and Awards

• College Football Network Third-Team All-American (2023)
• First-Team All-Mountain West (2023)
• Second-Team All-Mountain West (2024)

Athletic Testing

• 40-yard dash: TBD
• Vertical: TBD
• Broad Jump: TBD
• Three-cone: TBD
• Shuttle: TBD
• Bench: TBD

NFL Role Prediction

• Z wide receiver 

Fantasy Outlook

Jalen Royals has put some very good reps on tape, especially when he gets free releases. This is why I think he’ll fall into a perfect Z receiver. These players benefit from the motion and inside alignment the most. Royals also displayed physicality that could allow him to operate inside the middle of the field without fear. With an expanded route tree and further refinement to his already impressive skill set I can see him becoming a consistent WR2 for fantasy in a more pass-friendly offense.

Player Comparisons

• Stefon Diggs
• Brandon Aiyuk
• Cooper Kupp