Kevin Szafraniec recommended scooping Jalen Royals in the final rounds because the rookie’s path to snaps could open wide by October. He expects Rashee Rice to receive a lengthy suspension—"eight games wouldn’t surprise me"—after multiple felony convictions. That time line syncs perfectly with Andy Reid’s long-standing tendency to ease rookies in and then unleash them around Weeks 8-10. Royals was a favorite of analyst Shawn Siegele pre-draft and steps into a depth chart that, aside from Travis Kelce, lacks proven target earners. Kevin believes Royals could become Patrick Mahomes’ primary vertical threat during the Best-Ball playoff weeks, making him an ideal upside stash.

Chris Raybon targeted Jalen Royals at ADP 82 because multiple factors could force Kansas City to elevate the rookie quickly. The Chiefs are already dealing with injuries to Marquise Brown and Rashee Rice’s looming suspension, while JuJu Smith-Schuster projects as a run-blocking No. 4. Raybon trusts Andy Reid’s ability to integrate young receivers and believes Royals’ raw talent gives him a realistic shot at becoming fantasy-relevant this season. Although the price is rich, Raybon thinks the vacated targets and volatile WR depth chart create league-winning upside if Royals flashes in camp.

Hayden Winks labeled Jalen Royals undraftable even in the 17th round. Royals ran with Kansas City’s second-string offense and ceded red-zone work to Jason Brownlee, remaining behind JuJu Smith-Schuster, Xavier Worthy, Rashee Rice (once his suspension ends), Hollywood Brown, and others. Drafting a potential sixth wideout requires an unrealistic combination of injuries and depth-chart leaps, so Winks recommends using the roster spot elsewhere.

Shawn Siegele called Chiefs rookie Jalen Royals one of the most under-priced late picks in drafts. Royals drew three preseason targets and Siegele expects that number to scale up in September with Rashee Rice suspended and Hollywood Brown already dinged. Kansas City’s spread system routinely rotates receivers, and Siegele predicts Royals and fellow rookie Xavier Worthy will finish inside the top three in early-season routes. While acknowledging Royals may not be a weekly starter all year, he views the final draft slot investment as trivial relative to the chance at usable WR3 weeks before the veterans return.

Shawn Siegele said Jalen Royals is worth stashing because Kansas City coaches and beat writers keep calling him the smartest receiver in the room and comparing his play style to Rashee Rice. Internal Chiefs reports claim the front office had a Day-2 grade on Royals and view him as a draft-day steal, which lines up with how often he has reportedly worked with the first unit. Siegele noted that if Royals scores in Week 1 he would immediately crack FFPC starting lineups, making him an ideal ‘take-a-peek’ pick in the final rounds of season-long drafts.

Davis Mattek urged drafters to scoop Jalen Royals in the 18th round before the buzz peaks. Mattek compared the chatter to last year’s Rashee Rice saga: fans doubt the pick, but the coaching staff keeps insisting Royals will play, and every practice clip shows him stacking corners. The asymmetry is perfect for redraft—if Royals runs only four routes in Week 1 you cut bait, but if he’s a starter you’ve landed an explosive perimeter option essentially for free. Mattek is willingly over-exposed, jamming Royals onto rosters now rather than burning FAAB after the breakout becomes obvious.

Gene Clemons pegged Jalen Royals as a sub-200 ADP sleeper. Royals offers inside/outside versatility, can both stretch the field and handle possession work, and thus profiles as Kansas City’s best stylistic replacement should Rashee Rice miss time. Clemons argued that Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy lack the same flexibility, making Royals the wideout most likely to pop for managers in deep formats.

Davis Mattek said he grabbed Jalen Royals at 250-to-1 on FanDuel to win Offensive Rookie of the Year and urged listeners to sprinkle the longshot. Mattek expects Kansas City to stop baby-ing Patrick Mahomes with JuJu Smith-Schuster screens and let the offense push the ball while Rashee Rice sits early. GM Brett Veach called Royals a "Rice clone," which Mattek reads as a hint the rookie could open with roughly a 30 % route share. If Royals flashes, Mattek thinks he can keep snaps when Rice returns and ultimately leapfrog Mecole Hardman, whose ankle is already a concern. With a front-loaded schedule full of potential shoot-outs (Bills, Chargers, Eagles, Giants, Ravens, Lions, Commanders), Royals could rack up enough early counting stats and narrative buzz to make the 250-to-1 ticket live.

Shawn Siegele argued Jalen Royals is custom-built to restore Kansas City’s short-yardage touchdown gimmick that disappeared last season. He reminded listeners that in 2022 the Chiefs produced 12 receiving TDs on passes traveling two yards or fewer—six to Jerick McKinnon, three to Kadarius Toney, three to Mecole Hardman—before that wrinkle was absent in 2023. Royals’ burst and open-field wiggle make him the obvious motion/shovel-pass replacement, and Siegele projects four-to-six red-zone scores on minimal volume. With Rashee Rice likely suspended and Marquise Brown occupying perimeter attention, Royals offers cheap exposure to Patrick Mahomes’ ceiling and creates a unique Week-17 bring-back opposite Denver stacks. Siegele called him a "final-round spike-week cheat code" who can win tournaments without ever commanding a full-time role.

Shawn Siegele urged drafting rookie Jalen Royals in the final two rounds as an asymmetric upside play. Kansas City’s front office has said their internal board had Royals graded a full round higher than where he was selected, and Siegele trusts that eval given the Chiefs’ history of uncovering hidden receiving talent. With Rashee Rice facing a likely early-season suspension and Marquise Brown commanding defensive attention, Royals could be thrust into high-leverage snaps sooner than expected. His vertical skill set mirrors what the Chiefs lacked when injuries piled up last year, and Siegele believes a couple of mid-season 50-yard TDs are well within the rookie’s range. Because Royals often lasts until Round 20 while teammates Brown and Rice cost top-100 picks, Siegele sees him as the clearest way to buy into Patrick Mahomes’ passing ceiling without paying sticker price.

Shawn Siegele recommended stashing Jalen Royals in the final rounds as cheap insurance against a potential Rashee Rice suspension. While he made clear Royals will not fully replace Rice, Siegele noted that even part-time work in Patrick Mahomes’ offense could create touchdown-driven flex weeks, especially with injury-prone veterans like Hollywood Brown also on the depth chart. Royals is “basically free,” yet owns enough vertical juice to carve out snaps that matter more in best ball than managed formats. The payoff profile, Siegele said, is similar to last year’s late-season Marvin Mims or Pat Bryant: low probability but high payout if the depth chart breaks his way.

Pat Kerrane pushed back on the sudden buzz around day-three rookie Jalen Royals, calling the pick 'a tough combo' of limited draft capital and a narrow 2-to-6-game runway while Rashee Rice is suspended. Kerrane expects JuJu Smith-Schuster to run 'three times as many routes' as Royals in Week 1 and doubts Royals will earn enough snaps quickly to matter before Rice is reinstated. Even if Andy Reid wants to add wrinkles to last year’s stagnant passing attack, Kerrane believes the Chiefs will lean on proven veterans early, giving Royals only gadget work. That makes the rookie a low-probability bet in Best Ball drafts where drafters need usable scores right away.

Matt Harmon highlighted rookie Jalen Royals as a late-round lottery ticket while Rashee Rice serves his suspension. Royals shares Rice’s size and identical 10-yard split, and Harmon’s Reception Perception profile showed the former Utah State standout excelling on curls and in-breaking routes—the same concepts Andy Reid feeds Rice. Draft capital is a hurdle (Day-3 pick), yet Harmon believes Royals’ run-after-catch juice and ability to rip crossers give him a real chance to steal snaps in August. He is already adding Royals in best ball drafts and will monitor his camp usage for an early-season waiver claim in managed leagues.

Beimfohr called fourth-round rookie Jalen Royals his favorite ‘next Puka’ candidate. Before a season-ending injury, Royals posted 3.0 yards per route run against a schedule that included USC and Utah while being targeted on 29% of routes and turning 436 of 839 yards into YAC. The Chiefs scooped him at pick 133, joining Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy in the franchise’s youth movement as Travis Kelce shows age-related decline and Hollywood Brown managed only five games under 46 yards in 2024. With Patrick Mahomes still looking for a dependable chain-mover and Royals available at Underdog ADP 215 (WR98), Beimfohr sees a realistic path to immediate fantasy relevance even without an injury to incumbents.

Beimfohr highlighted Jalen Royals as his favorite deep-sleeper wideout. Royals only has to overtake Marquise “Hollywood” Brown to claim the WR2 job opposite Rashee Rice in Patrick Mahomes’ offense. The rookie posted elite yards-per-route and explosive-play rates at BYU, then blazed a 4.39 forty at 204 lbs, giving him the exact size-speed-yak profile that has thrived in Andy Reid’s scheme. Beimfohr thinks Kansas City’s 2025 offense could resemble the peak Tyreek-Kelce era, and Royals offers a cheap way to buy that ceiling at pick 190-200. He advised tacking Royals onto Mahomes stacks or as a one-off spike-week dart when you miss on Xavier Worthy.

Buck advised drafters to ignore fourth-round rookie Jalen Royals, predicting he will open 2024 as a weekly healthy scratch behind special-teams favorite Nico Remigio. Buck cited Andy Reid’s long track record of day-three receivers failing to earn offensive snaps—mentioning Skyy Moore’s stalled development and multiple early-round picks who never cracked the rotation—as evidence that draft capital still matters in Kansas City. He dismissed Chiefs personnel director Ryan Nutt’s comment that Royals shares a "similar skill set" with Rashee Rice as media fluff, not an actual playing-time signal. Buck concluded that any Rashee Rice injury or suspension would funnel targets to Xavier Worthy and Marquise Brown, not to Royals, making the rookie a wasted pick in best-ball drafts and a name to ignore on early waiver-wire watch lists.

Sam Monson said fourth-round pick Jalen Royals is ‘one of my favorite wide receivers in this draft’ and called the selection ‘insane value.’ Monson highlighted Royals’ Senior Bowl reps where the Utah State product consistently won with nuanced route timing, strong body control, and elite after-catch burst. Although Royals does not create five-yard gaps, Monson stressed that he gains leverage early, shields the defender, and maintains positioning— the kind of functional NFL separation that translates right away. Royals averaged 7.3 yards after the catch last season in Utah State’s tempo offense and tallied a 34% dominator rating despite quirky scheme usage. Monson believes that, in Kansas City’s receiver room currently headlined by Rashee Rice, Royals has a clear path to the WR3/WR4 role, offering Patrick Mahomes another dependable intermediate target. Dynasty managers and best-ball drafters should circle Royals as a cheap stash who could spike in value by mid-season if injuries or Rice’s legal situation thin the depth chart.

Beimfohr encouraged taking late-round swings on rookie Jalen Royals after Kansas City scooped him in the fourth round. He compared Royals’ small-school, limited-sample profile to Puka Nacua’s pre-draft résumé: Utah State star, hyper-productive when healthy, but dinged for missing games. Royals slots into a receiver room that—outside of Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy, and the suspended Rashee Rice—still features depth pieces like Justin Watson and JuJu Smith-Schuster. If Royals can actually play, Andy Reid historically has no problem promoting youth (see Rice in 2023). Even a modest 60-percent route share attached to Patrick Mahomes can deliver weekly spike-weeks that win Best Ball tournaments. Beimfohr is not overweighting him yet—targeting 2-4% exposure—but thinks he is exactly the kind of talent-swing that becomes a massive closing-line value if he flashes in August.