Amon-Ra St. Brown in line for bigger opportunity after Lions’ bye

Amon-Ra St. Brown was the only Lions wide receiver to catch a pass on Sunday, and that has him in line for greater opportunity moving forward.

Amid injuries and a general lack of talent, the Detroit Lions may trade for a wide receiver before Tuesday afternoon’s deadline. But if there’s someone who might step up internally, rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown stands as a candidate.

During Sunday’s blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, St. Brown was the only Lions wide receiver to catch a pass (three for 46 yards). He also had 35-yard catch called back by an illegal formation penalty. The other Detroit wide receivers (Trinity Benson, Kalif Raymond, KhaDarel Hodge and Tom Kennedy) combined for four targets (and zero catches of course) on 124 snaps.

Before going without a target in Week 7 against the Los Angeles Rams, St. Brown had 18 catches on 23 targets over the previous three games. He has been on the field a fair amount, at least 60 percent of the snaps in seven of eight games, and his connection with Jared Goff seems to be on the right track.

Amon-Ra St. Brown in line for opportunity after Lions’ bye

After Sunday’s game, Lions head coach Dan Campbell talked about St. Brown.

“Well, look, I think we need to look long and hard at (Amon-Ra) St. Brown,” Campbell said of ways in which he’ll attempt to correct some of his team’s offensive issues moving forward.
“There, for example, are there things that we can use him, that we can do that really will help him help us. Maybe that’s the best way to put it. We have to start looking at some of these guys.”

St. Brown averaged just 8.5 yards per catch over the first seven games of the season. So Sunday was progress in terms of showing some big-play ability, and he would have topped 20 yards a catch if the negated play had counted.

The Lions need someone, anyone, to step up and be a consistent weapon at wide receiver. Kalif Raymond has shown some promise, but when they emerge from a much-needed Week 9 bye St. Brown is lined up to have an opportunity in front of him.