Utah State’s Jalen Royals is an explosive and dynamic playmaker who is flying under the radar in the 2025 NFL Draft. Teams who miss out on a wide receiver in the first round would be wise to target Royals on Day 2.
Jalen Royals Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’0″
- Weight: 200 pounds
- Position: Wide Receiver
- School: Utah State
- Current Year: Senior
Scouting Report
Royals is from Powdersprings, Georgia, and attended Hillsgrove High School, where he was a three-sport athlete. He excelled at football, track and field, and basketball but wasn’t heavily recruited for any of the sports. He enrolled at Georgia Military College for his freshman year in 2021.
After receiving an invite to a Utah State camp, Royals was offered a scholarship and joined the program in 2022. In his first year with Utah State, Royals played in 12 games but wasn’t much of a factor offensively.
In 2023, he enjoyed a breakout season, leading the team in receiving and also setting a school record with 15 receiving touchdowns.
In his fourth and final year in college, Royals was on his way to another stellar season but suffered a foot injury midway through the year, cutting his season short.
Across two seasons at Utah State, Royals caught 126 passes for 1,914 yards and 21 touchdowns. Now, he enters the 2025 NFL Draft as one of the class’s top playmakers.
Strengths
- Very good speed to win vertically down the field
- Outstanding short-area quickness and change of direction with the ball in his hands
- Dynamic after the catch and has good instincts and creativity as a runner
- Natural hands catcher who plucks the ball out of the air and can contort his body to make catches outside of his frame
- Creative route runner who incorporates head and body fakes throughout the route
- Alignment versatility as he can play both outside or in the slot
Weaknesses
- Rounds his routes at the top of the break point
- Just average size and length
- Lacks refinement and needs to work on overall craft to be a more consistent route runner
Current NFL Draft Projection and Summary
Royals is a dynamic playmaker whom NFL teams will surely covet in this year’s NFL Draft. He is just a two-year starter at the collegiate level, but he made the most of his two seasons and was prolific as a junior, leading all FBS players in receiving touchdowns.
Royals was primarily an outside receiver at Utah State but was moved around the formation to create favorable match-up opportunities to get the ball into his hands.
A highly explosive athlete, Royals is at his best when he is working vertically down the field or when he has the ball in his hands. He offers excellent speed, quickness, and burst, and he also has the ability to leap and elevate himself above the defenders. He has just average size but really good play strength.
Royals has excellent straight-line speed and acceleration. He fires off the line of scrimmage and attacks the defensive back and eats up cushion in a hurry. One of my favorite things about Royals is how aggressive he is through the stem and how he is able to make the corner respect the vertical threat with every rep. This allows Royals to then quickly cut off his route and break in or out and leave the corner in his pedal, creating easy separation.
He routinely won vertically down the field and showed the ability to locate and play the ball over his shoulder. Royals is an above-average overall route runner and can create separation both vertically and laterally. There are times when he rounds his route at the break point and will need to be more concise at the next level.
A true playmaker, Royals is outstanding with the ball in his hands and a threat to score whenever he touches the football. He is a highly instinctual player who has a good feel for space and where defenders are on the field. This allows him to naturally evade defenders in the open field and run to daylight. He is a densely built player who can bounce off contact and doesn’t allow defenders to work through him back to the football.
Utah State would often use him on quick hitters such as tunnel screens and quick slants just to get the ball in his hands and let him create. He has very good quickness and lateral agility and can make defenders miss with ease. He is one of the few players who can create a big play when one isn’t there,, and defensive coordinators will be up late worrying about the Royals” ability to turn nothing into something.
Overall, Royals projects as a number two receiver who can play outside or in the slot. Creative offensive coordinators will love his ability to win at all levels of the field and will certainly want to get the ball into his hands early and often.