Tracking the 16 receivers taken before Amon-Ra St. Brown
One of the things that made a lot of people fall in love with Detroit Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, besides the fact that he's an elite receiver, was that he has a chip on his shoulder and he showed that chip to everyone last summer on Hard Knocks. St. Brown showed that he has […]
One of the things that made a lot of people fall in love with Detroit Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, besides the fact that he's an elite receiver, was that he has a chip on his shoulder and he showed that chip to everyone last summer on Hard Knocks. St. Brown showed that he has a particular talent. That talent is the memorization of all 16 receivers that were taken before him.
As we know now, St. Brown was criminally overlooked in the 2021 NFL Draft. That's obviously a good thing for the Lions because it meant they could get him on day three. It's a bad thing for other teams because he's hellbent on showing them why they were wrong.
Today I want to have some fun. Let's take a look at those 16 receivers after two seasons and compare them to St. Brown. Let's jump right into it.
Ok, let's start out by naming everyone and showing where they were picked.
| Player | Team | Pick |
|---|---|---|
Ja’Marr Chase | Bengals | 5th |
Jaylen Waddle | Dolphins | 6th |
DeVonta Smith | Eagles | 10th |
Kadrius Toney | Giants | 20th |
Rashod Bateman | Ravens | 27th |
Elijah Moore | Jets | 34th |
Rondale Moore | Cardinals | 49th |
D’Wayne Eskridge | Seahawks | 56th |
Tutu Atwell | Rams | 57th |
Terrace Marshall Jr. | Panthers | 59th |
Josh Palmer | Chargers | 77th |
Dyami Brown | Commanders | 82nd |
Amari Rodgers | Packers | 85th |
Nico Collins | Texans | 89th |
Anthony Schwartz | Browns | 91 |
Dez Fitzpatrick | Titans | 109th |
Amon-Ra St. Brown | Lions | 112th |
That's a lot when you look at that way. There's some real talent here. It's not like 16 bums got picked before St. Brown. Ja'Marr Chase won the offense rookie of the year award that season and has shown to be an elite receiver as well. Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith has been playing very well too. Some of these other guys are doing good too.
But how do they compare with St. Brown at the end of the day? Was the juice of taking these guys over St. Brown worth the squeeze? Let's take a look at how things are going for everyone after two seasons to find out.
| Player | Receptions | Yards | Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|---|
Ja’Marr Chase | 168 | 2,501 | 22 |
Jaylen Waddle | 179 | 2,371 | 14 |
Devonta Smith | 159 | 2,112 | 12 |
Kadarius Toney | 55 | 591 | 2 |
Rashod Bateman | 61 | 800 | 3 |
Elijah Moore | 80 | 984 | 6 |
Rondale Moore | 95 | 849 | 2 |
D’Wayne Eskridge | 17 | 122 | 1 |
Tutu Atwell | 18 | 298 | 1 |
Terrace Marshall Jr. | 77 | 628 | 1 |
Josh Palmer | 105 | 1,122 | 7 |
Dyami Brown | 17 | 308 | 2 |
Amari Rodgers | 20 | 249 | 1 |
Nico Collins | 70 | 927 | 3 |
Anthony Schwartz | 14 | 186 | 1 |
Dez Fitzpatrick | 5 | 49 | 1 |
Amon-Ra St. Brown | 196 | 2,073 | 11 |
Right off the bat you can see that none of these receivers have more receptions than St. Brown. You can also see that they've all at least scored one touchdown. Good for everyone involved.
St. Brown doesn't have the most yards or touchdowns, but he definitely belongs in the group near the top. He should have been taken in the first round. I'm sure there are plenty of teams that wished they would have taken him earlier now.
Featured image by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK