2022 Stat Prediction for Amon-Ra St. Brown
One of the lone bright spots for the Detroit Lions a season ago was rookie wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
The 2021 fourth-round pick (No. 112 overall) set the Lions franchise rookie record for receiving yards (912) and receptions (90) in a single season. He also caught five touchdowns, leading Detroit in all three receiving categories.
To put those numbers into further context, his 912 yards were fourth most among rookie receivers, and his 90 catches trailed only Miami Dolphins first-year wideout Jaylen Waddle (104).
St. Brown also got better as the season progressed.
In the season’s final six games, the USC product caught eight or more passes in each contest. It broke Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson’s team record for such a streak.
St. Brown also caught a touchdown pass in five of the six games, and recorded 111 and 109 reception yards in back-to-back weeks, against the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, respectively, to end the season.
In totality, he amassed 51 catches, on 67 targets, for 560 yards and five touchdowns in those six games to conclude the ’21 campaign. He additionally drew double-digit targets in each game during the stretch, surpassing 90 receiving yards four times.
And if those weren’t enough stats for you regarding St. Brown, here’s this: He became the second rookie in NFL history to haul in at least eight balls in four straight contests. The only other player to do it is Odell Beckham Jr., who accomplished the feat in 2014 with the New York Giants.
“When you’re the athlete he is, explosive, but then you’re tough and you’re competitive, it’s just the way you’re made up and he’s smart,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said about St. Brown, after Detroit’s 37-30 win over the Packers in its 2021 season finale. “And, those guys are hard to find, that are all-encompassing like that. So, I’m glad we’ve got him, and he proved again. The consistency is there, that’s for dang sure.”
So now, the question is: What will St. Brown do for an encore in his sophomore campaign?
The Lions presently have more competition in their receivers room than they did a year ago, due to the offseason acquisitions of veteran pass-catcher DJ Chark and Alabama Crimson Tide phenom Jameson Williams.
Both Chark and Williams are considered to be vertical threats that can the top off a defense, as a result of their game-changing speed. So, the duo’s presence should allow St. Brown to be even more dynamic over the middle as Jared Goff’s go-to slot receiver. Yet, it’s also expected that Chark and Williams, once healthy, will cut into the number of targets that the second-year pro receives on a weekly basis.
It’s because of this that I expect a decline in production out of St. Brown in 2022. With that said, I’m projecting that he records 69 receptions for 759 yards and four touchdowns during the upcoming season.
