Video: Lions' Amon-Ra St. Brown Talks Drafting WRs; Says Speed, Size Are 'Deceiving'

Amon-Ra St. Brown flew under the radar as a fourth-round pick on draft day in 2021 in a development that teams around the league surely regret multiple years later.

To hear him tell it, one of those teams might have picked him earlier if they reevaluated how they judge the wide receiver position ahead of the draft.

"A lot of scouts and teams look at numbers, whether that's what you produce in college or whether that's how fast you are and how tall you are," he said during a discussion with NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport.

"Those things can kind of be deceiving at this position because there's so many other things that go into it. IQ is a huge part of playing receiver. Understanding defenses, understanding zone coverage and where to sit. Being friendly to the quarterback, having strong hands, things like that that sometimes you can't really see on tape."

St. Brown also listed mindset and toughness as aspects that get overlooked when focusing on the traditional methods of wide receiver scouting.

The USC product was an absolute steal for the Lions with that fourth-round pick. He was a Pro Bowler last year with 106 catches for 1,161 yards and six touchdowns and is well on his way to another excellent campaign in 2023 with 57 catches for 665 yards and three touchdowns in seven games.

He is one reason Detroit is 6-2 and in first place in the NFC North with the chance to win a playoff game for the first time since the 1991 season.

If the Lions do win that playoff game, they can thank their scouts who decided that St. Brown was a worthy selection in the 2021 draft.