Jalen Royals joins the Kansas City Chiefs with an exciting playmaking profile after a breakout career at Utah State highlighted by 15 touchdowns in 2023. With Rashee Rice suspended to start the season, Royals has a chance to climb the depth chart quickly and become a sneaky fantasy football sleeper in 2025.
In 2023, Royals was a top receiving option for the Utah State Aggies, thanks to an impressive 15 touchdowns with 71 catches and 1,080 yards. He had an elite three-game run (7/185/3, 6/140/2, and 7/125/2) while scoring a touchdown (13 total) in seven of his final eight starts.
A left injury last season led to five missed games. Royals had a slow start over his first three matchups (5/77/1, 6/47, and 4/44) before catching fire in his following four contests (10/112/1, 9/211/2, 10/155/1, and 11/188/1). He gained 15.2 yards per catch in his college career.
Royals has a natural flow to his route running and spacing of defenders. He brings a shimmy and shoulder fake after his catches at the second level of the defense, creating yards after catch. His open-field running is an edge, along with his hands. Royals’ route running has a high floor despite needing some refinement off the line of scrimmage. He ran a 4.42 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. His strength is the missing link to his early profile.
I see some CeeDee Lamb qualities in his game, making Royals a value at wide receiver this year in the NFL Draft. The next step in his development is proving that he can perform at a high level against more talented cornerbacks. He projects to be a volume wide receiver who can work the inside part of the field.
The Chiefs added Royals with a fourth-round selection in this year’s draft. He’ll go undrafted in most 12-team leagues, but I view him as a must-follow over the summer. Kansas City will get him the ball in some way, and Royals adds more speed to the Chiefs’ wide receiving corps, another hint that Patrick Mahomes will regain a bounce in his fantasy step.
With Rashee Rice suspended for the first six games of the NFL season, Royals could carve out a meaningful role if he as the WR3 behind Xavier Worthy and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown.
Royals is currently the WR83 in our 2025 PPR Rankings and the WR82 in Non-PPR formats.
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