Jalen
Royals.
Jalen
Royals.
Utah St.· 6'0"· 205 lb· 4.42s 40
"A dynamic slot target, Royals’ explosiveness and elite open-field elusiveness create immediate separation and make him a threat to score anytime he touches the ball."Pre-draft read
Royals wins with suddenness and with the football in his hands. He releases cleanly, stems defensive backs to create leverage, and separates on slants, digs and crossers. After the catch he is genuinely dangerous — decisive on the first cut, strong through arm tackles, and fast enough to finish, averaging better than fifteen yards a reception in both full college seasons.
The route tree is unfinished. Most of his production came on a narrow menu of quick game and manufactured touches, and he is still learning to attack leverage at the top of vertical stems. Contested catches away from his frame are inconsistent, he offers little as a blocker, and he has not proven he can beat press from the boundary.
Motion-heavy West Coast or spread offense that manufactures touches on slants, crossers and screens.
Z receiver and yards-after-catch weapon on a defined menu of quick-game concepts.
A vertical, isolation-heavy passing game that asks him to beat press from the boundary on a full route tree.
Get the ball out fast and let him run — the separation and the tackle-breaking are the traits worth designing around.
Jalen Royals Utah State 2024 Season Highlights
Jalen Royals 2024 Season College Football Highlights | Utah State Wide Receiver | NFL Draft Film
JALEN ROYALS (Utah State) II Full 2024 Highlights
Royals arrived at Utah State from junior college and broke out immediately, catching 71 passes for 1,080 yards and fifteen touchdowns in 2023 — one of the most productive receiving seasons in program history. A foot injury cut his 2024 short after seven games, but he still posted 55 receptions for 834 yards and six scores, plus 184 kick-return yards, finishing his Aggie career with 32 games and 21 starts.
The testing supported the tape. At 6-0 and 205 pounds he ran 4.42 with a 1.49 ten-yard split, then added a 36-inch vertical and a 10-1 broad at his pro day, where he was limited to jumps. Kent Lee Platte's official RAS came back at 9.01 — an explosive, well-built athlete rather than a pure track receiver.
What holds the grade back is context and refinement. The production came in the Mountain West against coverage he could out-athlete, the route tree was narrow, and the 2024 injury cost him the chance to expand it. He is a Z receiver who should live on slants, crossers and screens early while a an offensive system builds out the vertical and contested work. Kansas City taking him in the fourth round is a bet that a system built on manufactured touches turns yards after catch into a real role.
- 01
Explosive Athlete
Posted a 4.42 forty, 1.49 ten-yard split, and 9.01 official RAS.
- 02
Dangerous After Catch
Decisive first cut and strong through arm tackles after the catch.
- 03
Efficient Production
Averaged over 15 yards per reception in both full college seasons.
- 04
Clean Releases
Shows stem control to manufacture leverage underneath coverage.
- 05
Deep Ball Tracker
Tracks the deep ball naturally and scored 21 touchdowns in 20 games.
- 01
Narrow Route Tree
Built on quick game and manufactured touches.
- 02
Contested Catch
Inconsistent on contested catches away from his frame.
- 03
Competition Level
Played against Mountain West competition, not NFL-caliber corners weekly.
- 04
Injury History
Suffered a 2024 foot injury and a rookie knee issue, costing development reps.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.42sp50
- Vertical
- 36inp50
- Broad jump
- 121inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Utah State | 13 | 71 | 1080 | 15 |
| 2024 | Utah State | 7 | 55 | 834 | 6 |
| Career | — | 20 | 126 | 1914 | 21 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
- Spencer PetrasQB15%
- Bryson BarnesQB14%
- Robert BriggsRB10%
#2 of 16 tracked contributors · Produced well above his snap share · Offense explosiveness 1.26 (p43) · CFBD — usage x PPA per tracked player
Honors
- First-team All-Mountain West (Utah State, 2023)
Athletic mid-round receiver who takes gadget and slot snaps without ever locking down a starting role.
Yards-after-catch specialist whose separation underneath turns him into a high-volume primary target.
Talented Group of Five producer whose injuries prevent him from ever establishing a package.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Year one barely happened. Royals played seven games as a rookie and finished with two receptions for four yards, with a knee injury putting him on the injury report repeatedly and ruling him out for multiple weeks. He never established a package.
That is the floor of the projection, though it is an injury floor rather than a tape floor. Kansas City's receiver room did not need him, and a rookie who cannot practice cannot climb a depth chart built on option routes and timing with Patrick Mahomes. Nothing about the seven-game sample invalidates the yards-after-catch traits or the 9.01 RAS; it just delays the evidence. Year two, healthy and with a full offseason inside the system, is the real first look at what Kansas City drafted.