Amon-Ra St. Brown Compared to NBA Legend, Best WR Lions OC Has Seen

When John Morton, the Detroit Lions’ first-year offensive coordinator, spoke about Amon-Ra St. Brown earlier this week, he didn’t just compliment him. He gave him one of the highest forms of recognition a wide receiver could possibly receive.

Morton, who has coached some of the most accomplished wideouts the NFL has ever seen, didn’t mince words.

“I told St. Brown the other day, ‘You’re the best I’ve ever been around. Run and pass. The way you prepare, the professionalism,’ (and) what he does in the offseason,” Morton said of the All-Pro receiver.

For St. Brown, a player who has built his career on a relentless motor and next-level work ethic, those words grabbed his attention.

After all, Morton’s résumé spans nearly three decades in the league, having coached the likes of legendary pass-catchers Jerry Rice, Tim Brown and Anquan Boldin.

For a coach with that type of extensive background to put St. Brown at the top of the list, it was certainly no small endorsement.

St. Brown has been the definition of productive through the first four games of the 2025 season.

With 27 receptions, 307 yards and a league-best six touchdowns, he’s the first receiver since Randy Moss in 2007 to open a season with at least 25 catches, 300 yards and six scores in that span.

In Lions history, only Calvin Johnson had ever reached six touchdowns in the first four games before St. Brown joined him.

Morton has made frequent comparisons between St. Brown and Boldin, highlighting their shared traits of durability and dependability.

“And I’ve said this before, he reminds me of Anquan Boldin -- they just come to work. All they want to do is dominate every single play,” Morton expressed. “But I told him, I said, ‘I don’t really care what the coverage is, you’re going to get open.’

“But I just think he -- just his attitude and how he approaches his preparation, I haven’t seen it from a wideout like that. That’s pretty impressive.”

Earlier in the week, receivers coach Scottie Montgomery compared St. Brown's mentality to that of Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, two NBA legends.

St. Brown’s value goes well beyond the numbers.

According to Pro Football Focus, he ranks third among receivers who command at least 20 percent of their team’s targets, and impressively, he also grades out as the fourth-best blocking wideout in the league.

When Morton first delivered his high praise for St. Brown before kickoff of the Lions’ Week 1 contest with Green Bay, the receiver was taken aback.

“I stopped and thought, ‘He coached Jerry Rice. There’s no way I’m the best,’” St. Brown recalled.

Morton had indeed coached Rice during the twilight of his career with the Raiders, when Rice, then in his 40s, was still capable of beating defensive backs.

St. Brown admitted he studies Rice’s late-career film, marveling at how effortlessly he “carved guys up.”

But, even as the praise from Morton has sunk in, St. Brown’s response has remained characteristically measured.

“It means a lot. It means the world,” the fifth-year receiver told reporters Thursday. “But, I’ve got to keep proving it. Just because he says it now doesn’t mean much if I can’t keep doing it.”

That constant drive to improve is what has fueled St. Brown’s rise to prominence in Detroit and across the NFL.

He speaks often about the little things, such as his breaks at the top of routes, his releases off the line of scrimmage and his ability to read coverages and make adjustments mid-play.

“I feel like there is always room for improvement -- every year, every week, you try to find ways to get better,” St. Brown said. “I think that’s what makes this game so great, is that you can really never be perfect. You try to be perfect. But you can’t be perfect.”

Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph (left to right) WR Amon-Ra St. Brown and RB Jahmyr Gibbs at Pistons game | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

That praise from Morton isn’t just a nice headline.

It’s an affirmation of the Lions’ culture under head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes, where preparation, toughness and unselfishness are valued as much as highlight-making plays. And St. Brown embodies that very ethos.

For St. Brown, the external noise, whether it’s internet trolls joking about him staying up late to play video games or the viral attention surrounding Morton’s comments, doesn’t bother him.

“I like to have fun with it,” St. Brown said. “There are trolls on the internet, on Twitter, everywhere, so I can be a troll myself sometimes.”

Ultimately, his focus stays rooted in football and in the fans who support the Lions.

“I think the fans make this game exciting,” he expressed. “They’re there every week, they support us, they cheer us on. I feel like without them, this game is nothing.”

And of course, much of his production is tied to his tremendous rapport with Goff.

St. Brown praised Goff for both his toughness and intelligence, pointing out how rarely the quarterback has put his receivers in harm’s way with reckless throws.

“He does a great job of getting rid of the ball. He protects us as receivers, I don’t think that’s talked about enough. I think, since I’ve been here, I don’t think he’s ever thrown me into like a big hit,” St. Brown said of the veteran quarterback. “So yeah, he takes care of us, he’s smart and like I said, he’s one of the toughest guys on the team. He gives us a chance to win each and every single week.”

Morton’s words may have caught St. Brown off guard at first, but they also point to something undeniable: the Lions’ 25-year-old star receiver has already placed himself in the conversation with some of the greats.

Whether he can sustain it will depend on his health and his ability to keep evolving his game, but the foundation is there.

For now, Morton’s declaration stands as both a compliment and a challenge.

St. Brown may be “the best” Morton has ever coached, but as the receiver himself knows, those words will only hold weight if he continues to live up to them.

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