The offseason is where dynasty fantasy football takes center stage. As a new crop of rookies prepares to join the NFL, a great way to get a sense of where their skills lie is by comparing them to guys already in the league. PFSN College Football Analyst Ian Cummings sees Makai Lemon as a classic Titans and Ravens WR, Derrick Mason.
What would a Mason-like career arc mean for the USC WR’s fantasy value?
Makai Lemon’s Draft Profile
This year’s rookie class has three wide receivers contending for WR1 status. Coming mostly in third, but still highly regarded, Lemon is a surefire first-round pick. In his most recent seven-round mock draft, Cummings has the Miami Dolphins scooping up the USC star with the No. 11 overall pick.
He wrote, “Makai Lemon scored a near-elite 85.1 PFSN NFL WR Impact Score in 2025, hinging his success on energized short-area motion, tremendous feel for stem and catch-point leverage, timing, gravity-defying body control, and undaunted contact balance after the catch.”
Lemon is primarily a slot receiver. He ran 76% of his routes from the inside. Hopefully, he doesn’t get typecast as a slot-only guy, though, because he is very much capable of winning on the outside.
Per Jared Smola, Lemon actually posted a higher yards per route from the perimeter (3.53) than he did from the slot (2.86).
While Lemon only had one spectacular season in college, it was quite special. He caught 79 passes for 1,156 yards and 11 touchdowns. Most importantly, he did this as a junior and then declared for the NFL Draft.
Early declaration of status is meaningful for the simplest reason imaginable. Players who perform well at a younger age tend to be better pros.
Comparing Lemon to Derrick Mason
Mason is obviously from a different era. It’s why all player comparisons must be considered in the proper context. Here is how Cummings described it:
“Lemon won’t blow the doors off in the 40-yard dash, and his lacking length and size can impact his success against press and early physicality, but as a power-slot alongside Jaylen Waddle, he can tear through opposing defenses as a modern-age Derrick Mason.”
Mason was an older rookie at 23. Lemon is still 21. But, again, it was a different time. Players didn’t enter the league at 21 and 22 as often as they did 25+ years ago.
In assessing the likelihood of long-term success over the past 15 years or so, wide receivers need to produce at a certain level as rookies to realistically have a chance. That was not exactly the case 30 years ago.
Mason was completely irrelevant for the first three years of his career. He had a moderate breakout in his fourth season, catching 63 passes for 895 yards and five touchdowns. But it wasn’t until his fifth year in the league that he truly ascended into an NFL WR1.
In that fifth season at age 27, Mason grabbed 73 passes for 1,128 yards and nine touchdowns. He went on to post a 1,000-yard season in each of his next five seasons, starting in the 2001 season and continuing through 2005, and three of his next six.
Mason was a very good receiver for a very long time. He was still a useful piece of an NFL offense in his age-36 season. That’s mighty impressive at a position where players are typically done by age 33.
This comparison is especially noteworthy for dynasty managers because it suggests that Lemon’s skill set will age well. Receivers who don’t rely on raw athleticism, but rather success with precision route running, typically have longer careers.
Dynasty managers should not be thinking 10 years down the line, but it doesn’t hurt to draft a player who is more likely to be at the top of his game for a longer duration.
As great as sustained success and longevity are, though, it’s also important to remember that Mason was never an elite fantasy producer. Mason’s best season was 17.0 fantasy points per game in 2003.
Over his nine best seasons from 2001-2010, Mason averaged 15.5 PPG. That’s perfectly fine, though.
Not every wide receiver has to have a Ja’Marr Chase or Julio Jones level ceiling. If Lemon ends up being mostly a mid-WR2 with a couple of WR1 seasons sprinkled in over the course of a decade, fantasy managers have to consider that a win.
