The Lions’ second-year receiver has what it takes to avoid a sophomore slump.
After enjoying a major breakout in the second half of last season, finishing as the league’s WR3 across Weeks 13-18, you may have shied away from drafting Amon-Ra St. Brown this season – for fear of a sophomore slump. But if you watched Tuesday night’s Hard Knocks, it looks more likely to expect a sophomore jump – in ADP, that is.
St. Brown is currently being drafted as the WR26 in early drafts, just ahead of Jerry Jeudy and Darnell Mooney. That number will likely climb in the coming days.
In Tuesday night’s episode of Hard Knocks, we got a peek behind the curtain of what makes St. Brown tick, and the second-year receiver is hungry.
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In the episode, the 22-year-old wideout named every receiver – and the school they played for – that was picked ahead of him in last year’s draft.
The list was long (16). St. Brown was drafted at pick 112 overall. That chip on his shoulder fueled the fire in his rookie season.
It worked. St. Brown broke the franchise rookie records for catches (90) and yards (912), adding five touchdowns. He finished the season as the WR21 overall in PPR scoring, with a stellar 75.6% catch rate.
But there’s more. In another example of how disciplined St. Brown is, we learned he catches 202 balls from the jugs machine after every practice. Why? Because when he was young, he saw a kid with good hands who told him he caught 200 passes from the jugs machine after every practice. Wanting to be that 1% better, St. Brown made his magic number 202.
The physical and mental discipline and maturity started at home. We learned St. Brown (who also has a brother, Equanimeous, in the league) began training at home with his father – a two-time Mr. Universe. Not only did we see home footage of Amon-Ra bench pressing as a boy a la DK Metcalf, we saw current footage of Equanimeous and Amon-Ra working out together in silence, while their father ribbed them about “going soft” for grabbing a drink of water. Mr. St. Brown then called out Kevin Durant for not training properly and therefore inviting injury. So, if you’re wondering if Amon-Ra does calf-raises at home, the answer is probably yes. If dad has anything to say about it, you won’t be losing Amon-Ra St. Brown to the IR.
We don’t usually get to see what’s behind the curtain and this year’s Hard Knocks has been one of the most inspirational seasons of the HBO series, even after just two episodes. Not only are the players making for great story lines, the coaches are really taking center stage. You can see that these players will be willing to do whatever it takes to make Dan Campbell and his inspirational coaching staff proud.
So, let’s add it up.
Chip on shoulder? Check.
Mental discipline? Check.
Physical specimen? Check.
Low-injury risk? Check.
What’s not to love?
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Well, it’s ADP. After last night’s episode, that will surely be on the rise. We need to bear in mind that those incredible numbers down the stretch were assisted by the fact both T.J. Hockenson and D’Andre Swift were absent. St. Brown is more likely to see a 20-22% target share rather than the whopping 33% opportunity he saw in the final games of 2021. Also, we need to bear in mind that Josh Reynolds looked smooth (as Campbell called him) last night, and the Lions added speedy receiver D.J. Chark in the offseason. Oh, and let’s not forget the QB is still Jared Goff.
That being said, am I going to have some Amon-Ra on my fantasy football teams? You better believe it.
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