2021 NFL Draft rookie profile: USC WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

(Follow along with all things 2021 NFL Draft with the FTN 2021 NFL Draft Hub!)

Amon-Ra St. Brown is a former 5-star recruit who played wide receiver for the USC Trojans. While some believe he didn’t quite live up to expectations, St. Brown has turned himself into a very good NFL prospect. With St. Brown NFL teams are getting a multi-faceted receiver who could develop into a number one option at the NFL level and is just 21 years old. St. Brown should be drafted any time on day two of this year’s NFL draft.

Amon-Ra St. Brown college stats

St. Brown made an impact almost immediately as a freshman, catching 7 passes for nearly 100 yards and a touchdown in his very first game. For his collegiate career (30 games) he averaged nearly 6 receptions for 75.6 yards per game while scoring 17 total touchdowns.

Worth noting:

• Forced 18 missed tackles and averaged 5.4 yards after catch in 2019.
• Career ADOT of 10.7 yards.
• Converted roughly 50% of contest catch situations the past two seasons.

Strengths: Amon-Ra St. Brown is plenty versatile.

• Athletic profile is a huge plus. St. Brown is a moderately explosive athlete who displays good acceleration, top-end speed, and great leaping ability. While he won’t be the most athletic guy in this class, he is able to rely on his athleticism to help him win.
• Can be used to attack the defense at all levels. St. Brown is one of the few receivers in this class who has displayed the ability to win short, intermediate, deep and on gadget plays. He has a well-developed route tree and release game that keeps defenders on their toes and unable to commit to stopping him in one facet. If he doesn’t win with separation, he is phenomenal in contested catch situations and has no problem going up for the football and winning at the catch point while absorbing contact.
• Vertical threat from the slot. Receiver prospects who play a majority of snaps from the slot give me apprehension. The exception to that is when the player is able to get vertical and still do damage downfield. This is a very coveted skill set in the NFL. St. Brown absolutely destroyed opposing defenses on vertical routes from the slot and has a highlight reel catching bombs that rivals any in the class.

• Yards after the catch are a fixture of St. Brown’s game. St. Brown isn’t a guy who is going to make a lot of guys miss with jukes or fancy moves, but he does invite physicality into his life and does not like to go down. His competitiveness after the catch is unrivaled in the class. St. Brown easily runs through arm tackles and routinely breaks tackles with power, great body control and contact balance. You will almost never see St. Brown shy away from contact and he will do whatever he can after the catch to keep the chains moving.

• A coach's dream. At times St. Brown looks like an NFL veteran already. Whether it's his willingness to block in the run-game, his ability to work on scramble-drills, perfectly finding the soft spots in zone coverage, his work in the red-zone, or his pure competitiveness that fuels a desire to win on every single snap, St. Brown does ALL of the small things very well. Coaches will love him.

Weaknesses: Amon-Ra St. Brown hasn’t seen much man coverage

• Didn’t see a ton of man coverage in college. This is not uncommon for a college WR prospect but is more emphasized with St. Brown playing in the slot so much. St. Brown did a lot of his damage lined up against off slot-defenders and even safeties in two-high coverage schemes. On the bright side, St. Brown rightfully went berserk in those scenarios but consistently beating man and match coverages is paramount to NFL success.
• 2020 showed a slight dip in quality. Simply put, St. Brown’s 2020 tape had some great flashes but was not nearly as consistent as his 2019 tape. In a messy COVID-19 year, the question becomes whether NFL teams will hold it against him, especially when many in his peer group sat out entirely.

Landing spots: Could Amon-Ra St. Brown end up in Indianapolis?

• Indianapolis Colts (pick 2.22) — While I don’t believe St. Brown is a “slot-only” type of player, getting a guy who can win vertically from the slot, replacing free agent T.Y. Hilton would be a great landing spot for him. Also, pairing him with former teammate Michael Pittman would just be cool. St. Brown would certainly have a high ceiling here considering both the target opportunity and capital investment.
• Green Bay Packers (picks 2.30, 3.29) — Getting Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense another receiver who is versatile and can align anywhere regardless of formation would be a huge win. While we haven’t seen the Packers sustain heavy fantasy production from a second receiver in some time, they also haven’t had a player of St. Brown’s quality opposite Davante Adams.
• Kansas City Chiefs (pick 2.31, 3.31) — The Chiefs will most definitely be looking for a receiver this offseason and I can’t think of a better option than yet another inside/outside combo player that can be relied on for heavy target volume if needed. However, with Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce already in the fold, consistent fantasy production in the early stages of St. Brown’s career could be a hard to come by if he were to land here.