Amon-Ra St. Brown’s case for consideration among NFL’s elite receivers

Carmen Vitali

NFC North Reporter

I’ve already written about how Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has done everything he needs to do to be considered a true No. 1 wideout. He runs every route out of every alignment. Look no further than Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers where St. Brown set a new career high in single-game yards with 156 on eight receptions. He also showed up in the rushing column thanks to two end-around plays that each converted crucial downs for Detroit.

In fact, St. Brown was single-handedly responsible for six of the Lions’ 23 first downs, including a touchdown. That’s something he’s done all season. St. Brown has already accounted for 38 first downs this year, according to Pro Football Reference, putting him on pace for 81, which bests his total last season by 13. St. Brown has a success rate in general of 57.9 percent, according to StatsBomb, which ranks well above the league average of 48.7 percent. He ranks in the top 10 of wideouts for catch rate at 74.7 percent, where the league average is 64.6 percent. And St. Brown has nearly 30 percent of the Lions’ target share for the season.

“He’s a stud,” said head coach Dan Campbell after Sunday’s game. “He just continues to make plays. He is the most steady, reliable guy that you can find in this league.”

Basic stats show that St. Brown has gotten better year-over-year, too. His yards per catch have steadily increased from 10.1 in his rookie season in 2021 to 11 in 2022 and now 12.6 through eight games. His yards per target is up, too (9.4). He’s gone over 100 yards receiving in all but two games this year and is averaging 102.6 per contest. It means St. Brown already has 821 yards on the season. He is likely to finish somewhere around 1,745 receiving yards by January should he keep up this pace. St. Brown should also finish with more touchdowns. He has four through eight games. He should get to nine, which would be another career-high.

“His production is always there,” said Campbell. “His reliability is always there, we don’t ever want to take him for granted.”

St. Brown has also been the beneficiary of an offense that is highly productive — and has been since the very beginning of last season. The Lions are averaging 406.4 total yards per game, which is the most of any team other than Miami, which is benefiting from a 70-point, 726-yard performance against Denver in Week 3. Detroit ranks in the top five in most major offensive categories. They’re top 10 in points per game, averaging 26.8.

The production comes from both phases of the offense, too. Detroit is one of the rare teams that has struck a balance between the run and pass game in what is still an overwhelmingly pass-heavy league. The Lions rank fourth in both passing yards per game and rushing yards per game. And while you’d think that would be counterintuitive to a guy like St. Brown amassing ever-increasing amounts of yards, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has proved there’s enough work to go around.

The Chargers game was again a great example of that. The Lions needed a reliable player to get them a few yards on crucial downs and needed to switch it up from Goff throwing the ball. They still turned to St. Brown and gave him two chances to take a pitch out of the backfield as a runner.

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We talk a lot about football evolving into this ‘positionless’ game but it seems Ben Johnson has taken that to heart. While not every receiver is called upon to rush and not every running back catches a heavy volume of passes, each player can. You can’t rule it out in Johnson’s offense. It hasallowed the Lions to stay two steps ahead in games. They are able to utilize their players based on reliability. They have the variable skillsets and the coaching staff to put those pieces together, often in real-time.

With the creativity the Lions have proved they’re capable of, the trend of St. Brown getting better should continue. It’s time we start considering St. Brown among the NFL’s elite, especially with that context.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.