Arrowhead Pride
Kansas City’s fourth-round pick is much like his new teammate — but there are some differences, too.
With the 133rd pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, the Kansas City Chiefs selected Utah State wide receiver Jalen Royals.
What can the team expect from Royals? Here’s what you need to know.
Royals came out of Georgia Military Academy as a zero-star recruit. At Utah State — the only school to make him an offer — he didn’t break out until his junior season in 2023, when he finished with 71 catches for 1,080 yards and 15 touchdowns, giving him first-team All-Mountain West honors and a spot on the third team of College Football Network’s All-America squad.
As a senior, Royals increased his output from 83.1 to 119.1 yards per game, putting up 55 catches for 834 yards and six touchdowns before an October foot injury ended his season after seven games. He still received a second-team All-Mountain West nod.
Right after the Chiefs selected Royals, Ryne Nutt — the team’s director of player personnel and college scouting — compared Royals to Rashee Rice. He had a point.
Both receivers are around 6 feet and 205 pounds. While Rice showed more explosion in his jump testing, Royals displayed more long speed than Rice. Otherwise, their athletic profiles are very similar.
There are similarities on film, too. Like Rice, Royals’ best attributes come when he has the ball in his hands. Unlike Rice, Royals doesn’t look like he’s been shot out of a cannon — but he can juke and make guys miss in space even better than Rice can; he can break tackles in more creative ways.
Neither player had a deep route tree in college. At Utah State, Royals mostly ran vertical, hitch or screen routes and run-pass options; the Aggies were focused on quickly getting the ball to their best weapon with blockers in front of him.
The biggest difference between Rice and Royals is in downfield route running. At SMU, Rice wasn’t proficient in downfield routes — and that has continued in Kansas City, where he’s best on horizontal routes and leveraging his quick twitch. But Royals has more deep speed— and generally is a better downfield route runner.
While Royals must work on consistently beating press coverage, I find it very exciting that at 205 pounds, he plays strong through contact. He played outside in more than 80% of his reps last season — and even with his limited route tree, he’s comfortable in that part of the field.
Royals’ biggest weakness is his route tree. There just wasn’t much variation in how Utah State used him — partly because the team had to give him easy touches for its offense to work — but in the NFL, Royals will need to do more. While there’s no reason he can’t improve, it will nonetheless be a process. His film also shows some drops — but these can also be cleaned up.
**How he...
