The Sun God rises. Amon-Ra Julien Heru J. St. Brown, the son of the “LaVar Ball of college football,” is having a bit of a breakout late in his rookie season for the Detroit Lions. If you don’t know the story about this family and his father John Brown (a former back-to-back Mr. Universe), go read up on them. Following a pair of strong games, should fantasy football managers consider St. Brown on the Week 15 waiver wire?
Amon-Ra St. Brown’s recent production has been great
It took longer than I expected, but St. Brown has emerged as the Lions’ leading receiver over the last two games. He has led the team in targets, receptions, and yards over the last two weeks, totaling 18 receptions on 24 targets for 159 yards and a touchdown.
Working as a possession slot receiver, St. Brown is executing in the role I thought he’d have all season. If you were patient with the USC product, you’ve been rewarded down the home stretch of the fantasy regular season with a WR11 performance over the last two weeks in half-PPR scoring.
Can he sustain this workload in the fantasy playoffs?
It took a while for St. Brown to get going, but it looks like he’s here to stay.
To be fair, his Week 14 production came while T.J. Hockenson was out of the lineup, but he posted 12 targets to Hockenson’s 8 when both were on the field in Week 13. It looks as though Kalif Raymond, who was performing early in the season, has taken a back seat to St. Brown.
Hockenson is done for the season after undergoing surgery on his thumb, meaning those vacated targets will be up for grabs in this Lions offense going forward.
The absence of D’Andre Swift should also help to expand St. Brown’s workload throughout the fantasy playoffs. The running back was the focal point of this team’s offense throughout the season until he got hurt. With speculation that the Lions will shut Swift down in a lost season, St. Brown could continue to benefit from more looks in the passing game.
Between Weeks 1-8, Swift averaged 7.1 targets per game. While Jamaal Williams is capable of seeing passing-down work when he’s healthy, St. Brown has earned more work for the Lions.
Amon-Ra St. Brown fantasy expectations
The fantasy football playoffs set up nicely for St. Brown, despite the fact that the Lions are nowhere close to competing for a postseason spot of their own. As the year winds down, I would expect Detroit’s primary focus is to develop their youth for next season, meaning St. Brown will continue to see plenty of opportunities.
Over the next three weeks, the Lions play the Cardinals, Falcons, and Seahawks. Over the last four weeks, the Cardinals have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to opposing WRs, and the Falcons have given up the third-most. Seattle isn’t a great matchup for championship week, however — they’ve allowed the eighth-fewest fantasy points per game to wide receivers over that same timeframe.
St. Brown figures to be a good option at least for the next two weeks. Thus, he should be played in the flex with confidence. We’ll see how he continues to develop in the next two weeks before making a decision for fantasy championships, but he absolutely needs to be rostered in all formats.