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Makai Lemon Had a Quiet NFL Debut, But Came Up With a Big Block on the Game’s Biggest Play
By Matt Schultz
Published:
Makai Lemon didn’t exactly pop in the Eagles’ Week 1 win over the Commanders. The rookie receiver’s stat line was pretty awful: he caught 3 of his 4 targets for -5 receiving yards (with catches of 3, -5, and -3 yards). Operating as the Eagles’ WR3 and playing 36 of 56 offensive snaps (64.3%), most of Lemon’s targets came on quick screens (which, as Kinker already wrote about today, were very bad) and plays around or behind the line of scrimmage — and in the opportunities he had, he certainly didn’t capitalize.
None of that stuff is good. I’m not saying it is. What I am saying is that, despite how bad it looks in the box score, Lemon definitely wasn’t a zero on the day. Even though he couldn’t get anything going with the ball in his hands, the rookie positively affected the game in ways that don’t show up on the stat sheet — like when he put down this truly massive block as Jalen Hurts scrambled on a 3rd and 18 in the fourth quarter:
Also, Lemon did manage to get open a few times during the game — Jalen just didn’t connect with him to make the well-run routes count:
To be clear, I am not one to defend any player if I believe he truly played like ass. I’m not here to sugarcoat. I am here to report. I am a reporter… Ethical… A pure journalist… And I’m being honest when I say I think Makai Lemon is going to be just fine.
He’s still working his way back from a nagging hamstring injury that plagued him throughout the pre-season. He’s still trying to find a rhythm within the offense, as a rookie, with a quarterback that we all know can be finicky with who he targets and when. If this is what a bad Makai Lemon game looks like, it could’ve been a lot worse. And that makes me excited to see what a good one looks like.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com