Exit Interviews: St. Brown steady as ever, Williams arrives and Lions face short- and long-term uncertainty at WR3
To wrap up the Detroit Lions’ 2024 season, we’re doing a position-by-position evaluation of the roster. Today, we’re focusing on the play of the team’s wide receivers.
The straightforward stats
Amon-Ra St. Brown: 141 targets, 115 receptions, 1,263 yards, 12 touchdowns
Jameson Williams: 91 targets, 58 receptions, 1,001 yards, seven touchdowns
Tim Patrick: 44 targets, 33 receptions, 394 yards, three touchdowns
Kalif Raymond: 22 targets, 17 receptions, 215 yards, two touchdowns
Advanced metrics
Let’s start with St. Brown, who led NFL receivers in catch rate, hauling in 81.6% of his targets. He was also third in success rate, with 70.2% of those receptions gaining at least 4 yards on first down, 60% of the remaining distance on second down, or converting a third or fourth down. Not surprisingly, he finished second in the league with 73 grabs that resulted in a first down.
Williams provided an explosive element to Detroit’s offense. His six receptions of 40 yards or more ranked fourth in the NFL. He saw a team-high 14 deep-ball targets, and the average depth of those shot plays (35.1 yards) ranked sixth in the league.
Williams racked up 497 yards after the catch. His 8.6-YAC average ranked third among receivers. His average separation of 3.4 yards also paced Detroit’s receivers.
St. Brown continued to be the most heavily used receiver in the slot among Detroit’s corps, seeing a touch more than half of his snaps inside, followed by Williams, who was in the slot 35% of the time.
As a team, Detroit finished second only to Philadelphia with a 2.2% drop rate. The team’s four primary receivers combined to drop just eight passes.