Amon-Ra St. Brown had a fantastic 2022 season, and here’s a fantasy football-angled review of his second NFL campaign.
Amon-Ra St. Brown was one of the most productive wide receivers in the NFL late in his 2021 rookie season. He carried that into his second season, becoming the fourth receiver in Detroit Lions history with a 100-catch season (106, for 1,161 yards) as he also joined select company in league history two seasons into his career.
St. Brown was a top-10 fantasy wide receiver across the board this year(through Week 18), standard scoring (WR9), full PPR (WR7) and 0.5-point PPR (WR8). Even at the high-end of his ADP range, he delivered value for fantasy managers who believed.
Let’s breakdown St. Brown’s 2022 fantasy season week-by-week, using 0.5-point PPR scoring.
Week 1: WR14
Week 2: WR3
Week 3: WR40
Week 4: Out
Week 5: WR77
Week 6: Bye
Week 7: WR91
Week 8: WR29
Week 9: WR29
Week 10: WR9
Week 11: WR21
Week 12: WR3
Week 13: WR2
Week 14: WR32
Week 15: WR27
Week 16: WR27
Week 17: WR28
Week 18: WR40
St. Brown was not a fantasy playoff stud this year, but he was solid (WR22-0.5-point PPR) from Week 14-17.
If not for suffering an ankle injury in Week 3, missing Week 4, having his snap count limited in Week 5 (21 snaps) and being removed from Week 8 very early with a head injury (10 snaps), St. Brown’s numbers and fantasy finish would have been even better. Narrow to his 12 fully healthy games through Week 17, and he finished outside WR30 in 0.5-point PPR once through Week 17. He also had less than eight targets just once in those 12 contests, however ill-timed in Week 17. On the season, counting Week 5 and Week 7 where he was banged up, he had less than eight targets in just three of his 16 games.
St. Brown has already said he wants to become more of a downfield threat, and nitpickers might say more touchdowns would be nice since he only scored in four games this season. But he was a top-10 fantasy receiver with some untapped areas in his game, and being out or limited in a few games.
The fantasy upside for St. Brown in 2023 feels strong. His ADP will be one to watch during the summer, with likely a very fine line between where he will be considered a draft value or a reach.