Amon-Ra St. Brown has been one of the greatest and most prolific wide receivers in the NFL over the previous two seasons, by any measure you want to use, whether surface stats or deeper numbers. So, the Detroit Lions made him one of the highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL this offseason (and the highest-paid for approximately 24 hours). Earlier this offseason, Pro Football Focus ranked St. Brown as a top-five outside wide receiver in 2023, according to yards per route run. PFF ranked him as the fourth-best wide receiver versus press coverage last year.
There is no reason to think St. Brown won’t continue to produce at a high level for years to come. There doesn’t need to be more proof how good he is at this point, as it also feels sure that analytics will hold his work in high regard.
But, PFF has given us a little bit more proof.
According to PFF, Amon-Ra St. Brown was great at two particular routes in 2023
Gordon McGuiness of PFF just unveiled the highest-graded wide receivers on ten distinct route types from last year. The standard criteria is at least ten targets each route, with the threshold reduced to five for comeback routes.
St. Brown was the highest-graded wide receiver on slant (97.3) and hitch (97.1) routes.
“St. Brown’s three touchdown receptions on slants in 2023 trailed only Jakobi Meyers. He averaged 5.78 yards per route run, turning 15 targets into 11 receptions for 185 yards.”
“St. Brown was the league’s highest-graded receiver on hitch routes, too, recording 24 receptions for 240 yards and a touchdown.”
It’s no surprise St. Brown got the best marks on slants and hitch routes. Those routes the things he does best on display, though it’s fair to say those routes are only a small piece of the whole picture for how good he is. Those routes also match well with Jared Goff’s strengths as a quarterback-timing, accuracy, anticipation, when the opponent blitzes…
St. Brown and Brandon Aiyuk were the only wide receivers who received the highest scores on two distinct routes. And, no, there is no indication that Aiyuk should have received the same (or greater) contract as St. Brown.
