Amon-Ra St. Brown looks like lock to set Lions rookie yardage record

Amon-Ra St. Brown is on the doorstep of setting the Lions rookie record for receiving yardage, and he might do it very early on Sunday.

Over the last five games, Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown has 43 catches for 451 yards and four touchdowns. He also became the first rookie in the NFL’s Super Bowl era to post at least eight receptions in five straight games.

If not for a slow start to the season, St. Brown would’ve surely already set multiple other records in Lions or NFL rookie history. He is second among rookie wide receivers in receptions this season with 82 (Jaylen Waddle leads with 99), and he can probably maintain that position with Ja’Marr Chase (79 catches in third place) possibly not playing a lot in Week 18.

Amon-Ra St. Brown on doorstep of Lions rookie receiving record

St. Brown has said he’s keeping track of the 16 wide receivers who were taken ahead of him in the 2021 draft, as he outproduces most of them and carries that chip on his shoulder. With 803 receiving yards so far this season, he looks like a lock to set the Lions’ rookie record for receiving yards.

The current holder of the record for receiving yards by a Lions’ rookie is Roy Williams, with 817 yards in 2004. Calvin Johnson had 756 yards in his 2007 rookie campaign, and he was in second place before St. Brown passed him in Week 17.

Based on his averages over the last five games (8.6 catches, 11.4 targets, 90.2 yards per game), St. Brown is on track to set the Lions’ rookie receving yardage record on his second catch Sunday against the Green Bay Packers–probably around midway through the first quarter based on what he’s been doing.

Some may want to point to Williams setting Detroit’s rookie receiving yardage record in a 16-game season, while St. Brown will need at least the early part of a 17th game to pass him. But that won’t dimish the record, which he may set by a nice margin even after a rough start to this rookie season.