Overview

Position: WR

College: Utah State

Class: Senior

Age: 22

 

Measurables

Height: 6’0”

Weight: 205 lbs.

Arm length: 30 1/8”

Hand size: 9 1/2″

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: 4.42 sec.

10-yard split: 1.49 sec.

Vertical jump: N/A

Broad jump: N/A

Bench press: 13 reps

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Terrific acceleration and explosiveness. Excellent speed. Solid build and excellent strength. Smooth on corner routes. Uses shake on releases to stack cornerbacks on vertical routes. Exceptional tracking ability down the field. Soft hands shown on one-handed grab down the sideline versus Utah (2024). Outstanding hands with great catch focus in contested coverage. Quick eyes to locate the ball and catch it with his hands. Very strong hands working back to the quarterback on hitches with a defender on his back. Smooth footwork and quickness on slant routes. Smooth with burst cutting on in-breaking routes. Will use some physicality to separate on in-breaking routes. Very confident catching while running towards traffic and gets downhill with the ball. Fluid on quick outs. Great footwork on pivot routes. Mostly played far outside the numbers on the left side but has experience in the slot. Able to get vertical from the slot. Impressive ability to adjust for back-shoulder passes and reach off his frame. Targeted near the sideline on plenty of RPO screens. Used on traditional wide receiver screens and tunnel screens. Catches the ball in stride on screens. Will sell a vertical step as the target on screen passes. Very smooth catching the ball while moving his feet to position himself for yardage after the catch. Slippery to get past blocked defenders on screen passes. Excellent vision and balance as a runner. Breaks tackles at the catch point. Great ability to break tackles in general. Instinctive following his blockers in the open field. Very elusive with the ball in his hands. Terrific juke move. Very good blocker on the perimeter. Gives effort and has solid technique. Strong blocking on perimeter screens. Was on a complete tear in his final four games including a 9/211/2 line versus Boise State.

 

Weaknesses

Mostly ran a simple route tree in a heavy spread attack. Has some trouble separating from closer coverage and physicality. Inconsistent separation quickness in general. Sometimes cuts his route short rather than continuing across the field on over routes (perhaps not on the same page as his quarterback). Had a couple of underneath drops in a row versus Boise State (2024). Suffered a season-ending foot injury in October.

 

NFL comparison

Jayden Reed

 

Conclusion

Overall, Royals is a smooth, explosive wide receiver with flashes as a route runner, tremendous catch focus, and great run-after-catch ability. His skillset should allow him to be used in a more diverse role at the next level with increased usage in the slot and down the field similar to Jayden Reed and Marvin Mims Jr.

 

Big Board ranking: #52 | Positional ranking: #6