Getty Amon-Ra St. Brown runs with the ball against Seattle in 2022.
The Detroit Lions appear to have found a star in the making in the form of wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, and the eye test proved that true down the stretch.
Now, a closer look at several stats is also proving the point in a big way. St. Brown finished the 2021 season on a tear and set himself up to potentially be thought of in the future one of the best young players of his draft class. That’s something Pro Football Focus sees in a big way.
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This season, PFF recently highlighted that St. Brown rose from midseason obscurity to finish as the second-highest rated rookie wideout the site had for 2021. St. Brown finished behind Ja’Marr Chase who had an 85.3 rating, but finished with a solid 79.9 rating.
I see you Amon-Ra 👀☀️
Early in the season, St. Brown would never have been on the radar of being compared with any of these players. Though the first three games of the year, St. Brown only had 6 receptions for 43 total yards. After that point, St. Brown came on to post 84 receptions for 869 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Though he wasn’t drafted early, St. Brown could be proving himself as the cream of the crop in what looks like a loaded rookie class.
St. Brown Finished 2021 Season on a Tear
Down the stretch of the season, St. Brown only seemed to gain in confidence from where he was earlier in the year, and his emergence from an unknown rookie to one of the better wideouts in the league has been a sight to see for the Lions and their fans.
St. Brown looked like a major weapon most of the second half of the season for the Lions catching and running with the ball. He took on the look of a player who may will his team to bigger and better things thanks to the plays he was able to deliver.
St. Brown was on fire for the Lions down the stretch, and the fact he finished with 912 receiving yard and 5 touchdowns will simply springboard him moving forward into 2022. The Lions have seen St. Brown come into his own with big plays, and he has looked like a future dynamo in waiting for the team’s offense.
It’s very interesting to see how high St. Brown has risen in the mind of the media with regards to metrics like this.
St. Brown Paid Dues During 2021 Season
This past season, St. Brown started off as an unknown rookie out of USC. He came into the league as a fourth-round pick without much fanfare but having put up decent stats in college. Most people understood that St. Brown was going to take some time to adjust to the speed of the game and the rigors of pro football, but once he did, there were glimpses of what could make the young wideout a quick star. St. Brown seems to be able to stretch the field and run sideline to sideline to show off his speed. He can run the ball as well as catch the ball, showing the Deebo Samuel kind of impact he can make in the new-look NFL.
St. Brown’s success was not immediate, but it’s possible that only helped to refine his talent in the end. He was forced to earn his role in the league, and that led to some of the success he had the rest of the season.
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