Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff had high praise for his No. 1 target, Amon-Ra St. Brown, on a recent episode of NFL Network’s The Insiders.
Goff took the opportunity to make the case for his teammate as the league's top wide receiver and didn't mince words. He highlighted how St. Brown has a complete skill set that no one else at the position does.
“I think [St. Brown's] the best wide receiver in the league,” Goff declared. “I think he's the only guy who catches it, runs with it, blocks, does everything. He can do it all. It's a lot of fun to work with him and to play with him."
It’s not surprising to hear a starting quarterback prop up his guy. But St. Brown is most certainly on the shortlist of the best wideouts in football and has been for some time since his debut in 2021.
So let’s take a look at Goff’s argument.
Jared Goff doesn't hesitate when naming Amon-Ra St. Brown the NFL's best WR
St. Brown has blossomed into one of the most consistently productive players in the NFL. Starting with his breakout year in 2022, he’s recorded four straight seasons with at least 100 catches and 1,100 yards. He’s also caught at least 10 touchdowns in each of the last three seasons and has two 1,400-plus receiving campaigns.
Over the past four years, St. Brown is first among wide receivers in receptions (457), third in receiving touchdowns (39) and fourth in receiving yards (5,340). He is the only player in the NFL to record at least 1,000 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns in each of the past three seasons.
As Goff said, St. Brown is also deadly with the ball in his hands. He’s finished top three in the NFL in yards after the catch in three of the past four seasons, according to SumerSports.
Moreover, St. Brown is a willing blocker who helps seal off the perimeter in the running game and is among the game's most precise route runners. His knack for winning on a slant is one of the safest bets you’ll find on a Sunday in the fall.
Goff and St. Brown have become one of the league’s two or three most potent quarterback-receiver connections. They’ve developed such a rapport that there are times when they seem to share a brain.
Both have been an integral part of Detroit’s rise from a bottom-feeder to one of the NFL’s most prolific offenses. St. Brown deserves plenty of credit for helping Goff turn his career around in Detroit, and Goff deserves the same for helping St. Brown ascend from a fourth-round draft pick into one of the most prolific receivers of this decade.
And there are, of course, always other receivers who have a claim for the best in the league: JaMarr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Puka Nacua, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and George Pickens, chief among them.
St. Brown isn’t as flashy as some of those guys since he operates out of the slot. But the numbers, plus his well-roundedness as a blocker, elite efforts as a YAC threat and role in Detroit’s offense speak for themselves. He’s surely got a case.
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