Ben Johnson: Amon-Ra St. Brown Is 'Ultimate Chess Piece'
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown wants to be part of more explosive plays in the offense moving forward.
In 2022, only 13 passes tossed his way (8.9%) exceeded 15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
In comparison, Detroit's talented wideout was targeted on 101 occasions (69.2%) with tosses that traveled less than 10 yards through the air.
"It's definitely something I wish I did more. I don't really get the ball thrown to me too much down the field. So, I'm not getting some of these opportunities (that) some of the other players are getting. That's something I want to get more opportunities to do going forward, having the ball thrown down the field, and not just catching it after five yards and making guys miss," St. Brown told reporters late in the season. "I want to catch it 25, 30 yards down the field. You watch my tape this year, I really haven't had any of those. I haven't had anything over the shoulder, really."
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is aware of St. Brown's request, and has no issue finding even more ways to use one of the team's top offensive weapons.
"Brad (Holmes) and Dan (Campbell) talk about it all the time. We just want the best football players that we can find," Johnson told the team's website. "And, that's what Amon-Ra is, he's a phenomenal football player. Take the receiver part out of it. He is just a natural football player, and we can't get enough of them. I mean, we want to line him up as the lead blocker. We want to line him up with the ball in his hands. We want to have him running all the routes, he can do all that."
St. Brown has demonstrated the capability of handling an increased workload.
In fact, the 23-year-old receiver wants to continue to be used in the run game, plus wants targets on third down along with securing more deep balls.
"He's an ultimate chess piece that is fun. And, we're going to continue to push the limits with him," Johnson expressed. "I think he's made it well known, he wants to get that deep ball going a little bit this year. So, we'll see what we can do."
