Makai Lemon Knocks Out Jerry Rice in 1st Round of GOAT NFL WR Bracket, Explains Surprising Reason

Many NFL fans believe Jerry Rice is the greatest wide receiver in history.

Makai Lemon does not.

The Philadelphia Eagles' newest wide receiver was asked to complete a best wide receiver bracket as part of NFL draft coverage and eliminated the Hall of Famer in a first-round matchup against Julio Jones.

"I ain't really seen Jerry Rice too much, so I'm going to go Julio Jones on that," Lemon said. "From what I've seen."

Lemon crowned Calvin Johnson as the best to ever do it with the former Detroit Lions great eliminating Randy Moss in the semifinals and Antonio Brown in the finals.

To be fair to Lemon, he was born in 2004. That just so happened to be the final year of Rice's illustrious career, so the USC product never really had the opportunity to see the NFL's leader in so many statistical categories play.

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But it is still hard to argue with Rice's resume.

Rice is the NFL's all-time leader in catches (1,549), receiving yards (22,895), receiving touchdowns (197), receiving first downs (1,092), total yards from scrimmage (23,540), rushing and receiving touchdowns combined (207), and targets (2,569).

He was a three-time Super Bowl champion, two-time Offensive Player of the Year, 10-time First-Team All-Pro selection and 13-time Pro Bowler who led the league in receiving yards and touchdown catches six different times.

Still, that wasn't good enough to claim the GOAT title in Lemon's eyes.

As for Lemon, the Eagles selected him with the No. 20 overall pick of the 2026 NFL draft and will surely count on him to be an immediate contributor if they do end up trading A.J. Brown before the season starts.

B/R's NFL Scouting Department gave the pick a "B" grade and added, "Lemon is counted among the incoming crop's grittiest players. He's going to be physical, which projects well as a slot receiver and future security blanket. "

If he ends up exceeding what will already be high expectations, perhaps he can find himself in one of these brackets one day.