As he climbs the NFL, Amon-Ra St. Brown is leaving labels behind him. He is well past ‘rising star.’ He is soaring past ‘star.’ Amon-Ra St. Brown, the former fourth-round pick who knows the name of every receiver drafted before him, is approaching the rarified air of NFL superstar.
This is staggering. It is not a stretch.
"It’s been fun to watch his progression since he got here a year and a half ago," Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Thursday. "And truthfully, I really think he’s playing like a top five, top 10 receiver in this league right now."
In his second NFL season, St. Brown just keeps getting better. He keeps outdoing himself and pushing the bar higher. He caught nine of 10 targets for 122 yards and a touchdown against the Bills on Thanksgiving, then held his own beer and caught 11 of 12 targets for 114 yards and two touchdowns last week against the Dolphins. Would anyone be surprised if he one-upped himself again Sunday against the Vikings?
What's the ceiling for this guy?
"Who knows," said Jared Goff. "He’s certainly pushing the ceiling that everyone assumed he had when we drafted him."
St. Brown isn't defined by what he can do. No, what can't he do? He makes clutch catches and contested catches. He makes catches that count for six and racks up yards after those that don’t. You could say he doesn’t make deep catches — fine, fair point — but then he’ll take an end-around for 60 yards like he did in Week 2 against Washington. And when he’s not making catches, St. Brown is blocking his tail off for his teammates.
At a 'diva' position, you won't find a tougher player in the NFL. St. Brown got walloped over the middle last week on something of a suicide pass from Goff, made the catch (duh), literally caught his breath and came back in the game like nothing happened.
"That catch he had over the middle and then he bounces back up a few plays later, I mean, that’s elite," said Johnson. "Not many guys have that. That level of toughness, the hands, the breaks, it’s a complete package and boy are we happy to have him.”
You can measure St. Brown against his peers with any stats you'd like. (Or you can just turn on the film.) They all echo Johnson's point: St. Brown is one of the best receivers going. By the traditional numbers, he's tied for fifth in the NFL in receptions (76), sixth in yards after the catch (450), tied for sixth in first downs (47), tied for seventh in touchdowns (6) and 13th in yards (830). And this is after missing basically two games with injuries and being several hobbled by a bad ankle in two others.
The fancy stats really tell a story. With a Pro Football Focus grade of 90.3 this season, St. Brown is tied with Davante Adams and Stefon Diggs as the NFL's second best receiver. Only Tyreek Hill has been better. As the Lions wonder what to do on Sunday about Justin Jefferson, PFF's fifth best receiver this season, you can bet the Vikings are wondering the exact same thing about St. Brown. This is superstar stuff.
"His skillset, it is unique," said Johnson. "He’s strong, he’s got quickness, he’s as good as anybody we have getting in and out of breaks to create separation at the top of the route. And he’s got elite hands to go on top of it, so he can also make some contested catches. It’s a fun little toy to play with as we go into the game plan session.”
On the other side, it's a headache. Goff has thrown St. Brown 59 passes since Week 8, and St. Brown has caught 48 of them -- most in the NFL over that stretch. If getting open is half the battle for a receiver, St. Brown takes care of the other half by almost always coming down with the ball. He has the best catch rate among the NFL's top-10 targeted receivers this season. Turns out catching 202 passes on the JUGS machine after every practice has its benefits.
"When we first got him, you could see his work ethic, his professionalism," said Goff. "And now things are starting to slow down for him. He’s starting to really see the field and fully understand coverages and he’s doing everything right. He does everything right in the run game, the pass game, he’s always where he needs to be, always blocking the right guy, just consistently doing the right things.
"And when you do that, you typically get a lot of balls and a lot of production. At the same time, he’s a hell of a teammate and never asks for it."
Most of the time, Goff just has no choice but to throw it to him.
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