Makai Lemon, A.J. Brown’s replacement, will face pressure like Mike Mamula did replacing Reggie White

The last time the Eagles put this much pressure on a rookie, Americans were just getting used to using Microsoft Windows 95 to access eBay. They were playing Sony’s new gaming platform called PlayStation. And they were waiting to see if O.J. Simpson’s hand fit inside a glove brought into evidence by a racist L.A. cop who perjured himself.

Thirty-one years ago, the Eagles traded the No. 12 overall pick, as well as Nos. 43 and 63, to move up five spots and draft defensive end Mike Mamula. They also got the 72nd overall pick from the Bucs. Two years earlier the Eagles had allowed Reggie White — arguably the best Eagle in franchise history, if not the best defender in NFL history — to leave via free agency, a new phenomenon for the most repressive professional league.

Mamula was seen, to a degree, as White’s replacement. Mamula did nothing to deserve those expectations. In fact, he’d done little at Boston College to warrant those expectations. Mamula was a victim of circumstance. As it turned out, Mamula had a decent, injury-marred five-year career, but Mamula wasn’t Reggie White.

In fact, Mamula wasn’t even Warren Sapp, the Hall of Fame defensive tackle taken five picks later by Tampa Bay with the No. 12 pick.

Which brings us to Makai Lemon.

He was a productive wide receiver who played at USC in the Big Ten, which is an elite conference. At 5-foot-11 and 192 pounds, with precise route-running ability and excellent hands, he looks like a plug-and-play slot receiver who might one day move outside, where the real plays and the real money get made. You know, by players like malcontent diva A.J. Brown.

The problem:

Lemon was drafted to replace malcontent diva A.J. Brown. Like White, Brown is the best player at his position the Eagles franchise has ever had.

Further, the Eagles on Thursday traded their No. 23 pick and picks Nos. 114 and 137 to Dallas to move up to No. 20.

Lemon was considered the second- or third-best receiver in this year’s crop. He’s tough and talented, and he plays hard, and he’s got Stevie Wonder swagger.

“They gettin’ a dawg,” Lemon told ESPN as he stood on the draft stage in Pittsburgh.

He was wearing sunglasses at night and swaying his head back and forth like he was singing “Superstition.”

Lemon’s gonna need every ounce of swagger he can muster.

Good luck, kid.

Not only does the young man have the pressure of helping to bail out a passing game that has struggled for three consecutive seasons, Lemon’s burden will be magnified by the shadow of Brown.

The Eagles are expected to trade Brown after June 1, when his salary cap hit for 2026 drops to $16.3 million. They would assuredly have traded him by now, but the cap hit before June 1 is $43 million. So, like a damaged piece of real estate, he lingers on the books until the fiscal year rolls over.

“A.J. is a member of the Eagles,” Howie Roseman said Thursday for about the 10th time this offseason, in his most bored GM voice. “We don’t have some trades that have been made and done.”

Then, Howie let the cat out:

“I think, for us, we’re taking this one day at a time.”

When you expect a player averaging $32 million to actually play for you in the upcoming season, you don’t take things one day at a time.

It’s over. But it’s been great.

As for Lemon:

Good luck, kid.

In the four seasons since the Eagles traded first- and third-round picks to the Titans for Brown during the 2022 draft, Brown averaged almost 85 catches, more than 1,250 yards, and 8 touchdowns. However, in each of the past three seasons, Brown has publicly complained about the Eagles’ passing offense and has obliquely blamed the deficiencies of franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts, who, remarkably, happens to be Brown’s close friend.

His last complaint was in the middle of last season, in which he called the offense a “(bleep)show.” That precipitated an on-field meeting with owner Jeffrey Lurie, who convinced Brown to stop publicly humiliating the franchise.

Brown agreed, but as the season progressed he became increasingly and obviously agitated on the field, occasionally not finishing routes. He also stopped speaking with the media.

Several reports have surfaced in recent weeks that suggest Brown will be reunited with former Titans coach and current Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. Everything about Brown seems destined for controversy: One of the reports came from Dianna Russini, who, at the time, worked for the Athletic, but has since since resigned amid accusations that her longtime relationship with Vrabel is inappropriate. This matters in reference to Brown because, if that relationship informed her reporting with an agenda toward facilitating a trade, any trade might be tainted.

Fortunately for Lemon, he won’t be tainted by that aspect of the drama.

He’s got enough to worry about.

Lemon will be under contract for at least four years. Brown averaged 68.3 receptions, 1,122.8 yards, and 8.8 touchdowns in his first four years, and he went to two Pro Bowls.

Good luck, kid.

Mamula needed a lot more than just luck. He compiled 26 sacks in his first four NFL seasons, all with Philadelphia, with no postseason honors. Reggie had 70 and made three first-team All-Pro teams.

Perhaps more saliently, Sapp had 29½, but that came as a tackle, which was all the more astounding. Sapp made two Pro Bowl teams and was twice a second-team All-Pro.

Will Lemon have his Sapp? Will edge Malachi Lawrence, whom the Cowboys took 23rd, be the replacement for four-time Pro Bowl end DeMarcus Lawrence (no relation), whom Dallas let walk last year?

In more recent memory: Will Lemon have his Justin Jefferson? Will KC Concepcion, who went 24th to Cleveland, or Omar Cooper Jr., who went 30th to the Jets, one day give Roseman buyer’s remorse?

Because Howie knows buyer’s remorse.

In 2020, desperate to emulate the speed-based effectiveness of Super Bowl LIV contestants Kansas City and San Francisco, Roseman drafted Jalen Reagor with the 21st overall pick. The Vikings, stunned by their good fortune, drafted Justin Jefferson 22nd. Reagor was out of football by the middle of the 2025 season. He caught 86 passes in the NFL.

Jefferson, when healthy, has been the NFL’s best receiver since 2020.

The difference: In 2020, most prognosticators, on the record, and most front offices, off the record, not only did not rate Reagor higher than Jefferson, but most considered Reagor a second-round pick.

This year, most prognosticators not only considered Lemon a first-round pick, but they rated him higher than No. 20. As did the Eagles, who said Friday night that he was among their top 15. That’s why they moved up to get him.

That, and, of course, the near-certainty that they will have a gaping hole in their wide receiver room by the evening of June 1.

Fairly or not, as in 1995, that’s the hole Lemon will be tasked to fill.

Who knows? Maybe he’ll fill it. After all, Brown wasn’t supposed to be this good. He was a second-round pick, taken 51st in 2019, but not only was he far better than every receiver taken in front of him, he was the offensive steal of that draft.

Maybe Lemon will be, too.

Good luck, kid.