Eagles’ Makai Lemon gets 100% real on ugly drop-turned-INT vs. Bengals

The Philadelphia Eagles were certainly high on wide receiver Makai Lemon out of USC, as they selected him with the 20th overall pick of this year’s draft. However, Lemon has a long way to go before he becomes a featured option in Nick Sirianni’s offense. After all, his return from injury on Friday during the Eagles’ 30-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals wasn’t very promising.

In fact, Lemon, on five targets and three receptions, only tallied three yards for the Eagles in their preseason finale. Moreover, he had a bit of a horrific blunder in the second quarter. Primed to receive the ball in the slot off of a throw from Tanner McKee, who is currently involved in a tight battle for the QB2 gig, Lemon let the ball slip through his fingertips and straight into the hands of Bengals cornerback Tacario Davis.

After the game, Lemon took responsibility for that gaffe, as he said plain and simple that he should have executed properly on a routine play.

“It was a drop. It went through my hands. I gotta catch that,” Lemon said, per EJ Smith of PHLY Sports.

Some believe that McKee’s pass was off the mark; Lemon was moving to the left, and the Eagles backup threw it a bit to his right. Nonetheless, to be an elite wide receiver in the NFL, McKee needs to learn how to catch that in his stride. His hands have to be stronger now that he has to adjust to a higher level of competition.

Perhaps Lemon was experiencing some nerves during his preseason debut, and that is natural for a 22-year-old playing in his first professional game. There have been plenty of elite wide receivers who have overcome this kind of shaky start to their career, so there is no need for Eagles fans to panic in the slightest.