Amon-Ra St. Brown - WR - USC
Amon-Ra St Brown is a rare prospect that has been highly touted since coming out of high school, giving him a great rookie profile. He maintained that high prestige throughout college and even to the NFL draft. Breaking out as a true freshman, and under the age of 19, he accumulated solid production all 3 years of his college career. He is one of the more consistent players coming out of college providing an all-around game with minimal holes.
Draft Results
Round: 4
Pick: 7
Team: Detroit Lions
Measurables
Age: 21
Height: 5′ 11″
Weight: 197 lbs
40-yard dash: 4.51
3-cone drill: 6.81
20-yard shuttle: 4.27
Vertical Jump: 39″
Broad Jump: 127″
Bench Press: 20
Analytics
| College DOM | College YPR | College Target % | Breakout Age |
|---|---|---|---|
33.1% | 11.7 | 22.3% | 18.9 |
College Stats
| Receiving | Formation | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Team | Class | GP | Rec | Yds | YPC | TD | Snaps | Slot Snaps | Wide Snaps |
2018 | USC | Fr. | 11 | 60 | 750 | 12.5 | 3 | 466 | 263 | 197 |
2019 | USC | So. | 13 | 77 | 1042 | 13.5 | 6 | 844 | 749 | 76 |
2020 | USC | Jr. | 6 | 41 | 478 | 11.7 | 7 | 415 | 116 | 293 |
College Career
Amon-Ra St. Brown was a five-star recruit and the number 2 wide receiver recruit in the 2018 class. He comes from a background of professional athletes with his brother, Equanimeous St. Brown, playing for the Green Bay Packers, his other brother Osiris St. Brown playing for football for Stanford, and his dad was a two-time Mr. Universe. He played alongside current NFL wide receiver Michael Pittman his true freshman and produced 750 receiving yards. That year was considered his break out year at the age of 18.9. Both Pittman and St. Brown elevated their game in 2019 because of new quarter back Kedon Slovis. St. Brown’s sophomore season he hit over 1000 receiving yards.
Heading into St. Brown’s junior year, Pittman officially was gone to the NFL, but sophomore wide receiver Drake London was the one to take a large step forward. St. Brown was still a major part of the Trojan’s passing attack in 2020, but London ended the season as the leading receiver by a few yards. Of course, the USC season was cut short to just 6 games due to COVID-19. Despite the shortened season, St. Brown showed enough on the field to be awarded First-team All-Pac 12 honors.
St. Brown tested well, to no surprise. He scored in the top 50 percentile in all of the metrics and ran a solid 4.51 40 time. Analytically, on film, and his production profile correlates to an overall safe prospect at the next level.
Scouting Report
Positives:
As mentioned before, St. Brown is a very safe prospect. With a solid production profile all four years in college, even playing alongside a current NFL wide receiver. He showed he was able to make any catch on the field, consistently catching away from his body. With good extension at the catch point he can get vertical and create a larger catch radius for his quarterback. Regardless of if the defender is playing tight coverage or contestes the catch, St. Brown can come down with it. He can prove to be a solid red zone target.
St. Brown showed an ability to create yards after the catch during his tenure at USC. He quickly turns upfield and makes defenders miss in the open field. Additionally, he creates plus yardage consistently with his physicality. At 5’11” and 197lbs, he played a majority of the time in the slot early on in his career. As a bigger slot receiver he was able to put his physicality to use quite often by breaking tackles and demonstrating contact balance to stay on his feet.
One of his best attributes is his route running. He has very fluid hips to create separation within his routes and gets out of his breaks very smoothly. He shows advanced techniques within his route by manipulating defenders and getting them off balance. He consistently switches up his footwork and his fakes to gain inside or outside leverage in his routes for additional separation.
Negatives
While St. Brown showed he has the ability to make any catch on the field, he struggled with concentration drops. He had quite a few dropped passes he should have come down with, especially last season. He does not have that second gear to break away from defenders in the open field. Compared to a lot of the top talents in this wide receiver class, St. Brown is lacking the top end upside that the other players provide. Additionally, in the blocking game, he tends to lack effort when the play isn’t going his way. Generally he is just getting in the way more than actually blocking for his teammates.
Post Draft Analysis
Draft Capital: Detroit Lions: Round 4, Pick 7
Landing Spot:
Many were surprised to see Amon-Ra St. Brown drop past Day 2, but the Detroit Lions were quick to snatch him up at the top of the fourth Round on Day 3. With the departure of Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones in Free Agency, the Lions were in desperate need for a pass catcher. They started the draft by filling a plethora of other needs before addressing wide receiver in the fourth round with St. Brown. With his route running and natural ability to separate, he should be prepared to impact the Lion’s offense immediately.
St. Brown walks into a wide receiver room where he can compete for a job immediately. It’s rare to find that on Day 3 of the draft, but with guys like Breshad Perriman, Tyrell Williams, Kalif Raymond, and Quintez Cephus, he has plenty of opportunity to start as early as week 1. Even though he lined up a majority of his snaps in the slot, his last year he showed his ability to be mostly an out wide receiver. With that versatility, he could crack the starting lineup at many different positions and be a moveable piece for the offense. He would benefit from having a true alpha wide receiver lining up opposite of him, but the Lions can address this in 2021, approaching the wide receiver room as a committee for this year.
Fantasy Impact
St. Brown is walking into a great situation to produce right away. With his versatility he should be able to crack the starting lineup quickly when looking at the competition around him. While it generally takes wide receivers some time to acclimate to the NFL, St. Brown should garner a lot of volume as the Lions will most likely be playing catch up a lot. He could provide a decent late-round flyer with wide receiver two potential year one for redraft formats. For dynasty, fantasy managers can expect more of the same from one of the more consistent college prospects. The Lions will most likely look to bolster the wide receiver room with a true alpha in 2021, allowing St. Brown to thrive as the wide receiver two for his offense. While he does not provide top-tier wide receiver one upside, he can be a consistent wide receiver two with potentially some low-end wide receiver one seasons sprinkled in over his career.
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Image Credit: Matt Cashore – USA TODAY Sports
