Fantasy Football 2021 Season Review: Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown

Amon-Ra St. Brown helped win a lot of fantasy football leagues this year, but here’s a review of the Lions’ rookie’s entire first NFL campaign.

When the Detroit Lions took Amon-Ra St. Brown in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, he was easy to see as a potential steal. If nothing else, with little standing in his way elsewhere at wide receiver, opportunity seemed sure to knock.

Early in the season, it was not to be with just six catches for 43 yards over the first three games. Things got better over the next three, with 18 catches on 23 targets total and 65 or more twice in that span.

Then came a catchless game against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 7, and St. Brown topped 50 yards once in the following four games. In terms of a breakthrough, it was easy to throw in the towel and think it’d just have to be better in 2022.

2021 Fantasy Football Season Review: Amon-Ra St. Brown

In Week 13 against the Minnesota Vikings, St. Brown had 10 receptions for 86 yards and the game-winning touchdown. That set him on a course as one of the most productive receivers in the NFL down the stretch of the season, with 51 catches (on 67 targets) for 560 yards and five touchdowns over the final six weeks (through Week 18).

Let’s look at St. Brown’s weekly fantasy finishes in half-point PPR scoring in 2021 (via Fantasy Pros).

Week 1: WR90
Week 2: WR77
Week 3: WR116
Week 4: WR34
Week 5: WR33
Week 6: WR49
Week 7: N/A
Week 8: WR55
Week 10: WR38
Week 11: WR64
Week 12: WR55
Week 13: WR7
Week 14: WR34
Week 15: WR6
Week 16: WR7
Week 17: WR2
Week 18: WR10

From Week 13-17, St. Brown was WR2 in 0.5-point PPR and full PPR (behind only Cooper Kupp). That made him a legit league-winning waiver wire add for those that picked him up, almost whenever he was added–he was WR1 in full and 0.5-point PPR from Week 15-17. And if Week 18 mattered in your league, he was WR1 from Week 15-18 too.

A fully healthy D’Andre Swift and T.J. Hockenson in 2022 is a two-fold proposition to consider–reducing St. Brown’s target share while also making the Lions’ offense better. Fantasy Pros’ very early 2022 consensus ranking of St. Brown the WR3 range (PPR) might be as low as it’ll be.