Amon-Ra St. Brown Fantasy Football: Should Managers Freak After Dismal Week 1?

Top pick was a dud in opening game.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Fantasy football managers who selected Amon Ra St. Brown early in their draft are freaking out this morning after their top dog put up a dud on Sunday Night Football, accumulating 3 catches for 13 yards in the Lions' 26-20 overtime win against the Rams.

It was St. Brown's worst statistical performance since October 2022, his second season in the league, and the worst performance by any 2024 Fantasy Football consensus first-round pick in Week 1.

But anyone concerned about St. Brown needs to take a deep breath because one bad game doesn't beget another.

This was a run-heavy game script for the Lions from the start and they never deviated from plan, running the ball 31 times versus 28 passes from Jared Goff. Of those 28 passes, 9 went toward Jameson Williams, who had the best game of his career with 5 catches for 121 yards and a TD.

You could say Williams, a former first-round pick, breaking out is concerning given he was expected to be the Lions alpha receiver when they drafted him in 2022. But that's simply not the case.

The Rams focused on shutting St. Brown and Sam LaPorta down, double teaming them and giving Williams more opportunities. Now that Williams has proven he's ready to take a jump in this offense, opponents will have to focus on him a bit more, giving St. Brown a bigger opportunity to shine.

St. Brown had six targets in the game, tied for second most on the Lions. He had 164 targets in the regular season last year, meaning he averaged 10.25 per game. While he might not get that many this season with the emergence of LaPorta, Williams and even RB Jahmyr Gibbs, he'll still be the Lions' alpha in targets when the season is complete.

Chalk this performance up as an aberration where game script and opponent strategy led to a disappointing performance. He might not be the WR1 in all of fantasy football, but I don't see him falling out of the top 5 this season either.