Jared Goff compares Amon-Ra St. Brown to one of his former teammates

Amon-Ra St. Brown was a focus during Episode 2 of “Hard Knocks”,  and Lions quarterback Jared Goff has offered a lofty comparison to one of his former teammates.

In Episode 2 of “Hard Knocks” on Tuesday night, Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and his father John starred in a segment. It was already well-known how he is motivated by the 16 receivers taken before him in the 2021 draft, but St. Brown recited their names in front of the cameras.

St. Brown made a star turn late last season, as one of the most productive receivers in the league over the final six weeks. If quarterback Jared Goff hadn’t missed two of those games down the stretch, St. Brown’s numbers would surely have been even better.

Goff of course spent his first five NFL seasons with the Los Angeles Rams. He overlapped with some great talent there, including Cooper Kupp. Kupp, like St. Brown, was an overlooked middle-round draft find for Brad Holmes (third round in 2017), the second-year Lions’ general manager who was previously the Rams’ director of college scouting for several years.

Jared Goff compares Amon-Ra St. Brown to Cooper Kupp

Via 97.1 The Ticket, Goff compared St. Brown to Kupp.

"Very similar,” “Both play in the slot. I think the first thing I noticed with both of them is the way they approach the game and the way they show up daily and how professional they are. So even before you get on the field, they both have a very similar mindset.”But yeah, I think there are some comparisons there: late-round pick, guy in the slot, got a little chip on their shoulder. Both are extremely hard working, extremely internally motivated and both guys I’ve been very lucky to play with.”"

During last season, not long after his arrival in Detroit, Lions’ wide receiver (and former Ram) Josh Reynolds compared St. Brown to now-former Ram Robert Woods.

Goff went a step further with the Kupp comparison.

St. Brown had a higher catch total as a rookie than Kupp did (90 vs. 62), but other numbers (down to league ranking in yards after the catch) were otherwise very similar. Kupp made a third-year jump in 2019, topped 90 catches in back-to-back seasons, then made a huge leap last season–leading the league with 145 receptions,1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Any predictions of a big sophomore slump for St. Brown are short-sighted. His pace from late last season is not sustainable, in terms of target share especially, but when it’s all said and done if he’s the Lions’ leading receiver in 2022 no one will be (or should be) surprised.