Getty Detroit Lions cornerback Jerry Jacobs issued a warning regarding wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Cornerback Jerry Jacobs of the Detroit Lions has provided quite a few memorable quotes to the media in recent weeks. He did that again when talking about Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on July 13.
Jacobs addressed his teammate on the red carpet at the ESPY Awards when asked who would be the biggest difference maker for the Lions during 2023.
“Amon-Ra St. Brown, just because of the way he worked, he had two great seasons coming off of what he did,” Jacobs told Jeremy Reisman of SB Nation. “They don’t think he’s going to come back and do it three years in a row, and I think he’ll be able to do it with the quarterback we have.”
St. Brown is aiming to record his third straight season of at least 90 receptions, 900 receiving yards and 5 touchdowns. Last season, his second in the NFL, he posted 106 catches for 1,161 yards with 6 touchdowns.
Lions’ Jerry Jacobs Confident in Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jared Goff
It’s relatively easy to be confident in St. Brown going into 2023. He’s just the third wide receiver in NFL history to post at least 90 receptions in each of his first two NFL seasons.
The other two wideouts to accomplish that feat were Odell Beckham Jr. and Michael Thomas.
But Jacobs loves St. Brown’s potential for a third straight 90-catch season also because of quarterback Jared Goff. Jacobs sang the signal caller’s praises while appearing on Sirius XM NFL Rewind on July 2.
“Everybody sleeps on my dog and I love how he take it in, like he don’t be cocky or nothing like that,” Jacobs said, via SI.com’s All Lions. “He just soak it in and play ball to this game, that type of reaction.
“He’s a great quarterback, and I can’t wait for him to you know, go out and prove everybody wrong.”
Jacobs also said Goff is a top five quarterback in the NFC going into 2023.
St. Brown and Goff have been a lethal combination the past two seasons. But even when Goff has been sidelined, St. Brown has performed well.
While Goff played all 17 games last season, he missed three contests in 2021. St. Brown had at least 90 receiving yards and a touchdown in two of those three contests.
Jacobs is so confident in the offense’s top passing connection that he issued a warning to the Kansas City Chiefs in the same interview with Sirius XM’s NFL Rewind.
“It’s time to show what Detroit is made of,” Jacobs said, via SI.com’s All Lions. “When we knew we were playing them in the season opener, Dan Campbell came in and said, ‘They want us to lose, so what are we going to do?’ … We almost went to the playoffs and they just won the Super Bowl, so they’re trying to see if we’re really like that.”
St. Brown Called ‘Most-Overvalued’ Lions Player
CBS Sports’ Jeff Kerr included St. Brown on his list of the “most-overvalued” players from each team on July 12. But in a way, Kerr is actually agreeing with Jacobs that the 23-year-old is due for a big season.
Kerr defined “overvalued” as players whose team’s “assign an excessive value to” or “value too highly — place too much importance on.”
“With Jameson Williams suspended and D.J. Chark departing in free agency, St. Brown is the most reliable receiver on the Lions depth chart,” Kerr wrote. “He’ll have a tall task early in the season with Williams out, although having a veteran presence in Marvin Jones and Josh Reynolds will help.
“Will St. Brown have enough pass catchers to help him out until Williams returns? That’s what the Lions are banking on early in the season. St. Brown is good enough to produce, but having another pass catcher step up will make his job easier.”
The Lions didn’t make a big addition at wide receiver this offseason even after the NFL suspended Jameson Williams six games likely because of their faith in St. Brown.
It sounds like Jacobs would argue St. Brown will be capable of doing the heavy lifting at receiver until Williams returns in Week 7.