May 27, 2022

Amon-Ra St. Brown started off slow in his rookie season, but from Week 13 on he was the overall WR2 in fantasy football, behind just Cooper Kupp and tied with Davante Adams. That's some impressive company. From Week 1 through 10, St. Brown had just a 64.7% snap share. From Week 11 on, that snap share increased to 86.2%. Interestingly, however, the routes run per game didn't increase all that much, going from 27.5 in the first nine games to 29.1 in the last eight. But the targets, and subsequently the targets per route run (TPRR) increased significantly. St. Brown's TPRR increased from 17.7% all the way up to 32.2%. Coincidently, T.J. Hockenson didn't play from Week 14 on, while D'Andre Swift didn't play between Weeks 13 and 16. Hockenson averaged seven targets per game, while Swift averaged 6.3 targets per game. The receiver depth chart behind St. Brown in the final six games of the season was as such: Kalif Raymond, KhaDarel Hodge, Tom Kennedy, and Trinity Benson. Nobody can take away the incredible production he sustained down the stretch, but one must question whether he was targeted at such a high rate because there was just nobody else for Jared Goff to throw the ball to. It's clear St. Brown has what it takes to be a great receiver in the NFL, but can he even come close to being even a top-20 WR in 2022 with a healthy Hockenson, a healthy Swift, and newcomers D.J. Chark and Jameson Williams in the mix? That remains to be seen, but one should set realistic expectations about his ability to command targets with a healthy stable of more talented skill players on offense. Consider him more of a WR3 than a WR2 this season.--Adam Koffler