He had to wait longer than expected, but Utah State star wide receiver Jalen Royals eventually heard his name called in the 2025 NFL Draft on behalf of the Kansas City Chiefs, which drafted Royals in the fourth round with the 133rd overall pick. Royals’ selection ended a five-year drought of Aggies being drafted into the NFL, becoming the first player to be selected out of Utah State since Jordan Love was taken with the 26th overall pick by the Green Bay Packers in 2020.
𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 ▪ 𝐑𝐎𝐘𝐀𝐋𝐭𝐲
@RoyalsJalen is headed to the @Chiefs !#AggiesAllTheWay pic.twitter.com/lpRP8ODVjh— USU Football (@USUFootball) April 26, 2025
Royals spent three seasons at Utah State, the final two being the most prominent. He caught 126 passes for 1,914 yards and 21 touchdowns in 20 games across 2023 and 2024, setting a USU program record with 15 TD catches in 2023. Royals had eight 100-yard receiving games, with a career-best 211 yards at Boise State in 2024. His 2024 season was cut short by an injury that limited him to just seven games, ending an opportunity to record a second 1,000 receiving yard season and likely another double-digit touchdown season.
Most pre-draft projections said Royals would be taken on the second day of the draft, Friday. Predictions ranged anywhere from the middle of the second round to later in the third round. ESPN’s position rankings had Royals as the ninth-best wide receiver in the draft and 62nd prospect among all position groups. Draft experts like Royals’ physicality, solid speed and ability to gain yards after the catch. NFL scouting departments were apparently not as keen as the media and enthusiasts, but the Chiefs were eventually willing to take a chance on Royals.
In terms of landing spot, Royals could hardly have found a better place in terms of QB talent. The two-time MVP and three-time Super Bowl MVP, Patrick Mahomes, will be everything Royals can want in someone to throw the ball to him. The question at this point will be where Royals will slot in on the depth chart. The Chiefs have a lot of questions at wide receiver that will need answering. They return top wide receiver Xavier Worthy, whom the team took with the 28th overall pick in last year’s draft. Worthy caught 59 passes for 638 yards and six touchdowns as a rookie. The other pass-catchers leave something to be desired. Tight end Travis Kelce is a future Hall-of-Famer, but is entering his age-36 season and is two years removed from his last 1,000-yard season. None of the remaining players currently listed on Kansas City’s depth chart — Rashee Rice, Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Sky Moore — caught more than 24 passes this past season.
The lack of established pass-catchers in Kansas City could give Royals an avenue to playing time and targets from arguably the best quarterback in the NFL.
Utah State has sent a few wide receivers to the NFL over the past half decade such as Deven Thompkins, JoJo Natson and Hunter Sharp, though had relatively short stints in the league and not a whole lot of production. The most recent Aggie wide receiver to see extended time in the NFL was Kevin Curtis, who appeared in 81 games from 2003 to 2010 and caught 253 passes for 3,297 yards and 20 touchdowns. Curtis remains the highest drafted wide receiver out of USU, having been taken 74th overall by the at-the-time St. Louis Rams.
