Ja'Kobi Lane taken No. 80 overall by Baltimore in NFL Draft
The Baltimore Ravens selected USC wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Friday. The Ravens took him with the No. 80 overall selection.
Lane will join former USC offensive lineman and Ravens starter Andrew Vorhees, a seventh-round pick in 2023.
Lane is the second Trojan selected in the 2026 NFL Draft following Makai Lemon‘s first-round selection on Thursday at No. 20 overall. He is the first Trojan wideout taken on Day 2 since Michael Pittman Jr. in 2020.
This is the first time the first two USC picks in a draft have been wide receivers since Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith in 2007. Both were second-round picks.
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Here is a breakdown of USC’s latest draft pick.
Ja’Kobi Lane by the Numbers:
Draft Rank (NFL.com): No. 86 overall, No. 15 WR
Height: 6-foot-4 3/8
Weight: 200 pounds
High School: Red Mountain (Ariz.) (Class of 2023)
High School Ranking: No. 339 overall (four-star), No. 53 WR, No. 6 in Arizona
Career USC Stats (30 games): 99 receptions, 1,363 yards, 18 TDs
USC Career:
Ja’Kobi Lane was one of four heralded wide receivers USC signed in 2023 with Zachariah Branch, Duce Robinson and Makai Lemon. The uber-athletic pass catcher sat for most of the season but scratched out a bigger role in the final stretch.
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He declared himself a playmaker in the Holiday Bowl with two TD receptions on three receptions for 60 yards. As a result, Lane was penciled in for a major role as a sophomore.
Lane put himself on the Big Ten map in 2025 with 12 TD receptions, first among the nation’s leaders. The total was powered by six TDs over the final two games of the season. He added 43 receptions for 525 yards to go along with the scores.
There were expectations for Lane to grow into a more complete receiver for 2026, not just a TD merchant. Overall, Lane showed signs of growth and recorded 49 receptions for 745 yards with four scores. Lane was limited to just 11 games with an upper-body injury year in the season.
Lane quickly opted to enter the draft despite potential for him to return to USC as the clear No. 1 receiver in 2026.
NFL.com Player Analysis:
Lane is a red-zone stalwart with elite length and ball skills to mismatch cornerbacks when he’s given room to work. He struggles playing through contact and sees an unusually high number of contested catches, but his catch radius, hand-eye coordination and focus give him a substantial advantage as a ball-winner. He might need releases schemed against heavy press teams and certain limbs on the route tree will be dead for him. Lane has the confidence and talent to become a productive pro and red-zone specialist, though. – Lance Zierlien.
