Here were the five wide receivers taken immediately before Amon-Ra St. Brown in last year's draft: Dyami Brown, Amari Rodgers, Nico Collins, Anthony Schwartz, Des Fitzpatrick. They've combined for 59 catches, 755 yards and three touchdowns this season. The 18 wide receivers taken after him have combined for 43 catches, 491 yards and one touchdown.
St. Brown has 82 catches, 803 yards and four touchdowns by himself.
He was the 17th best receiver on the board, according to his draft position. According to his stats, he's clearly one of the best five. At 112th overall, St. Brown might go down as the biggest steal of the draft. Even the Lions have been pleasantly surprised.
Asked if St. Brown has exceeded expectations in his breakout rookie season, Dan Campbell said Tuesday on the Stoney & Jansen Show, "I know this, we liked the player. He was gritty, he’s tough, we knew he could get open, we knew he could be productive in the slot. But did we know how much he could play as an outside receiver? Did we know how much he could do in the backfield? No, we didn’t.
"But once you get him in the building and he grows and gains confidence and you see his versatility and his athletic ability, you just take him where you think you can take him."
Among rookie receivers, only Jaylen Waddle has more catches than St. Brown. Only Waddle, Ja'Marr Chase and DeVonta Smith have more yards. So St. Brown has been better than every rookie receiver drafted outside the top 10. Not bad. Not bad at all. And he's making plays wherever the Lions put him. He posted his first career 100-yard receiving game and his first career rushing touchdown in Detroit's loss to the Seahawks last week, even as Seattle did all it could to stop him.
Lately, no one's been stopping St. Brown. He has the second most catches in the NFL over the last five weeks, trailing only MVP candidate Cooper Kupp.
"He’s an aware player," said Campbell. "He’s instinctive and he’s aware. And you can’t discount this. This is huge, now: he’s smart. He is a smart football player. He puts in the work as well, because look, we ask him to do a lot of different things and he has to play different spots. Not only is he the F, he’s the X, he’s the Z, he’s the H, he’s the Y, so he’s kind of like a tight end at receiver, if you will, or a quarterback. He’s gotta know as much as one of those guys has to, particularly almost the quarterback.
"There’s a lot of things he’s doing right now and that’s a credit to him. You can’t do that if you’re not a smart guy."
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While St. Brown has played the large majority of his snaps in the slot, he's also done some good work in an expanding role out wide. And now he's rushing the ball for good measure. Jared Goff has repeatedly called him "a stud." Campbell said "what you see out there (on Sundays) is what we see at practice."
"He works at his craft. He works at his run after catch, he works on his route detail," said Campbell. "If he messes something up, it happens in practice and then he corrects it so it doesn’t show up on Sunday. That's what you want. What you get to see is the finished product of how it’s done. He’s improving because he puts in the work. He's a smart guy, he’s conscientious, he’s tough and he's competitive as hell."
Of course, for every rookie success story, there are dozens more like Derrick Barnes. The linebacker drafted one pick after St. Brown has yet to blossom into the player the Lions hope he can become. He's had a bigger role down the stretch in the wake of a season-ending injury to Alex Anzalone, which has spotlighted his growing pains. Barnes was a step behind or out of position, or both, on many of Rashaad Penny's big runs last week when Seattle put up 265 rushing yards as a team. Campbell said Barnes is generally "correcting his old (mistakes)," but also committing plenty of new ones.
"There’s things that he doesn’t have to make a mistake to learn from, but then there’s enough of these where honestly, he’s gotta stick his hand in the fire before he realizes it is hot. You can’t just tell him. He’s gotta figure it out for himself," said Campbell. "Look, he’s gotta play better. He’s gotta play better. I thought he took a step back (last week). And we need more from our stack backers. But if you had asked me that question a week ago, I would have said he’s improving, he’s learning, he’s growing. And not that he’s not (anymore), but after last week, he took a step back. He did."
Barnes and the rest of Detroit's defense will get a chance to redeem themselves in the season finale against the Packers.
"If we put up a good fight and found a way to beat those guys knowing that they’re the No. 1 seed in the NFC, that would feel pretty good," said Campbell. "And it sounds like they may start all their guys. That would be awesome. What’s better than that? You’re gonna get a fully-loaded Green Bay Packers team for the last game of the year and you’re gonna get a chance to end on a high."