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3 College Wide Receivers Lions Should Keep an Eye On

Here are three college wide receivers the Lions should focus on from the 2021 NFL Draft class

Vito Chirco

The Lions might have a hole or two at the wide receiver position going into next offseason.

The contracts of their three top receiving options -- Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones Jr. and Danny Amendola -- are all currently set to expire at the conclusion of the 2020 campaign.

It likely will lead to Detroit general manager Bob Quinn being in the market for a receiver come next year's draft.

If such comes to fruition, here are three wideouts Quinn & Co. could end up targeting in the 2021 NFL Draft:

3.) Oklahoma WR Charleston Rambo

What can I say?

I love the guy's last name, but I also and most importantly, love what he did at Oklahoma a year ago.

As a redshirt sophomore in 2019, he saw a steady dose of targets from quarterback Jalen Hurts, with the second-most targets on the team -- only trailing the Cowboys' 2020 first-round selection CeeDee Lamb in the department.

According to Pro Football Focus, Rambo was most effective when running an "in-breaking route," through which he hauled in 12 of his 16 targets from the route for an FBS-high 21.6 yards per catch.

2.) USC WR Amon-Ra St. Brown

St. Brown could be a nice deep target for Matthew Stafford in 2021.

He wasn't used a lot in that role as a sophomore a season ago. However, when he was, he was ultra effective.

According to PFF, he caught nine of his 14 targets of 20-plus yards for 376 yards and five touchdowns. He also hauled in five of his six contested targets on those downfield passes.

And of all the college receivers returning in 2020, he recorded the third-most receptions out of the slot with 66 catches.

He's an intriguing prospect for Quinn to keep an eye on throughout the fall.

1.) Louisville WR Tutu Atwell

The 5-foot-9 speedster had a breakout campaign in 2019.

He was one of only two college receivers to amass 1,000-plus yards from the slot in '19, according to PFF College.

For the season, he totaled 1,276 reception yards, to go along with 12 touchdowns and 18.2 yards per catch.

According to PFF, he also was the only wideout to produce a 90.0-plus grade from catches made off of screens.

Potentially even more impressively, eight of his 23 screen receptions went for 15 or more yards -- which resulted in him leading the country in "explosive plays" generated off screens.

He'd be an exciting replacement for Amendola in the slot in 2021.

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Vito Chirco
VITO CHIRCO

Vito has covered the NFL and the Detroit Lions for the past five years.  Has extensive reporting history of college athletics, the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Mercy Athletics.  Chirco's work include NFL columns, analyzing potential Detroit Lions prospects coming out of college, NFL draft coverage and analysis of events occurring in the NFL.  Extensive broadcasting experience including hosting a Detroit Tigers podcast and co-hosting a Detroit Lions NFL podcast since 2019. 

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