I have some interest in Amon-Ra St. Brown, the wide receiver the Lions drafted in the fourth round. Not so much because I’m wowed by what he did at Southern Cal, but I like the situation he’s in.
Detroit doesn’t have a whole bunch at wide receiver. Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones are gone. They’ve signed Tyrell Williams and Breshad Perriman, but I’m not sold on those guys. Williams had a 1,000-yard season with the Chargers, but it was five years ago. Perriman is playing for his fifth team in five years; he’s been more of a deep threat than a starter-caliber player.
St. Brown has modest size and speed. In that sense, he reminds me of another wide receiver who played for the Trojans: Robert Woods. And, like Woods, he’s been productive.
The Pac-12 season was cut in half by the pandemic, but if we look at St. Brown’s last 14 games (a season’s worth of work) I see 94 catches for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns (plus another touchdown on a run).
Some chance, I think, that St. Brown is the most productive of the Detroit wide receivers. The team will be terrible (and with lousy passing numbers) but he could be their top guy.
At the same time, he’s a fourth-round pick, and it’s rare to see a player selected that late post viable numbers in his first season. In the last 20 years, only two wide receivers selected in the fourth round have finished higher than 50th statistically (using PPR scoring). Only another 10 have ranked higher than 70th.
| FOURTH-ROUND RECEIVERS (last 20 years) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD | PPR | Rk |
| 2010 | Mike Williams, T.B. | 65 | 964 | 14.8 | 11 | 227.4 | 16 |
| 2009 | Austin Collie, Ind. | 60 | 676 | 11.3 | 7 | 169.7 | 29 |
| 2020 | Gabriel Davis, Buff. | 35 | 599 | 17.1 | 7 | 136.9 | 57 |
| 2015 | Jamison Crowder, Was. | 59 | 604 | 10.2 | 2 | 135.6 | 51 |
| 2018 | Antonio Callaway, Cle. | 43 | 586 | 13.6 | 5 | 134.3 | 54 |
| 2012 | Chris Givens, St.L. | 42 | 698 | 16.6 | 3 | 133.0 | 57 |
| 2014 | Martavis Bryant, Pitt. | 26 | 549 | 21.1 | 8 | 130.1 | 61 |
| 2010 | Jacoby Ford, Oak. | 25 | 470 | 18.8 | 2 | 129.5 | 56 |
| 2009 | Louis Murphy, Oak. | 34 | 521 | 15.3 | 4 | 113.2 | 67 |
| 2013 | Ace Sanders, Jac. | 51 | 484 | 9.5 | 1 | 110.9 | 64 |
| 2009 | Brian Hartline, Mia. | 31 | 506 | 16.3 | 3 | 108.5 | 69 |
| 2009 | Mike Thomas, Jac. | 48 | 453 | 9.4 | 1 | 107.9 | 70 |
| 2016 | Malcolm Mitchell, N.E. | 32 | 401 | 12.5 | 4 | 96.1 | 50 |
—Ian Allan