Fantasy Football: Amon-Ra St. Brown on the radar as bye weeks loom

Amon-Ra St. Brown is starting to deliver on preseason sleeper promise, and the Lions’ rookie receiver has continued opportunity in front of him.

Absent great options elsewhere on the depth chart, Detroit Lions rookie wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown got a bit of fantasy sleeper buzz. In the first two games of the season he was a 60-plus snap rate player, but delivered a total of five catches for 41 yards. Week 3 was a dismal showing (one catch for two yards.

In Week 4, the rookie out of USC had six receptions for 70 yards (on eight targets). Then in Week 5 against the Minnesota VIkings, St. Brown led the team with seven catches for 65 yards. The absence of Quintez Cephus after a hard fall late in the first half kept St. Brown a prominent target for Jared Goff. Over the last two games, St. Brown has a 21.9 percent target share from Goff.

Cephus is now out indefinitely, if not for the season, with a collarbone injury. His absence leaves the Lions even thinner at wide receiver. But that lack of options means more opportunity for others, with St. Brown at the top of the list. Tyrell Williams may come off IR this week, but that doesn’t dimish St. Brown’s outlook.

Amon-Ra St. Brown is viable fantasy add as bye weeks loom

Week 6 is the first week of byes on the 2021 NFL schedule. Detroit has its bye in Week 9, but let’s look at their upcoming opponents fantasy ranking against wide receivers entering Week 6 (ranked on Yahoo! 0.5-point PPR scoring).

Week 6: Cincinnati Bengals-15th-most
Week 7: Los Angeles Rams-14th-most
Week 8: Philadelphia Eagles-5th-fewest
Week 9: Bye
Week 10: Pittsburgh Steelers-3rd-most
Week 11-Cleveland Browns-11th-fewest
Week 12: Chicago Bears-10th-most
Week 13: Minnesota Vikings-15th-fewest
Week 14: Denver Broncos-16th-most

Not exactly a litany of great matchups, to be honest. But add in negative game scripts on practically a weekly basis for the Lions, and those games against the Rams and Browns in particular look better.

Amon-Ra St. Brown Fantasy Ownership Rates: Yahoo!: 4%, ESPN: 5.4%, Sleeper: 20%

As seen above, St. Brown is available in a large chunk of fantasy leagues and nearly all Yahoo! and ESPN leagues as the Week 6 roster maneuvering commences. The weekly upside and floor for him are fairly close together, but he’s worth a long look off the waiver wire this week as a WR4 to navigate bye weeks in leagues with 12 or more teams.