dave birkett, detroit free press
·4 min read
Detroit Lions wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El has seen it happen before.
A player signs a big deal. His play stagnates. The fanbase turns on him. And his production wanes until he's run out of town.
Two months after Amon-Ra St. Brown signed a four-year, $120 million extension that briefly made him the highest-paid receiver in the NFL, Randle El said there's little chance that happens to the Lions star.
"Cats get complacent and you don’t see it in him," Randle El said Tuesday. "You haven’t seen it in him yet and I don’t expect you will. So I think he’s in a good spot, continue to move forward."
St. Brown is the surest thing in a Lions receiving corps that will enter training camp next month as one of the biggest question marks on a Super Bowl-ready roster.
He has steadily improved his yards, receptions and touchdowns in each of his first three NFL seasons, and Randle-El said St. Brown brought the same work ethic to practices this spring that he had when he arrived in town as a fourth-round pick out of USC in 2021.
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"The challenge that I always speak to him about and guys who sign these big contracts that they disappear in a lot of ways and a lot of times," Randle El said. "He’s not one of those guys. He hasn’t changed in terms of his work ethic and how he comes out and prepares and that’s good to see. So that’s really the biggest thing. He leads over and over again, so I don’t have a whole lot that I add to him. The expectations are like, 'Man, what you been doing has been doing great. How do we take it to another level?' And it’s always the small things."
Randle El said St. Brown's film study "went to another level" this offseason, and the Lions hope the supporting cast they've surrounded their No. 1 pass catcher with will up their games this fall, too.
Jameson Williams will enter the season as the Lions' unquestioned No. 2 receiver, and Randle El said the third-year pro made significant gains in the weight room this offseason that should pay dividends on the field.
"One of the biggest things is just his strength in terms of route running and not getting pushed off the spot," Randle El said. "You see that show up more and more, which has benefitted us as an offense and you can see him kind of taking it to another level and it helps him even getting in and out his route, the strength that he’s built in his legs. So you can see the difference."
Williams spent most of the spring working against new No. 1 cornerback Carlton Davis, whose physical style of press-man coverage gave Williams fits at times in practice.
Randle El said that should help Williams in the fall; Davis plays as one of the longest, strongest cornerbacks in the league. And he said Williams' "route tree has expanded" beyond just being a deep ball target.
"There’s a lot of (areas of improvement we gave him after last season), but all that he’s hit and it’s been great," Randle El said. "Just where he was the end of the year as to where he is now, how he’s gotten there. He’s really worked at it."
Kalif Raymond projects as the Lions' No. 3 receiver and is someone Randle El called "a blessing to be able to have him in the room," while the No. 4 and 5 receiver jobs are wide open for the taking.
Donovan Peoples-Jones and Tre'Quan Smith are the most experienced of the other receivers competing for roster spots, though neither did anything to stand out in the spring.
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"Those are guys that we’re expecting that we go along, 'Hey, you need to step up because those spots need to be filled and better sooner than later from that perspective,'" Randle El said. "So again, we’ve got some work cut out for us in our room just in terms of the guys getting better and being in those spots and being ready to go. But certainly again, that competition, that door’s open for these guys to be able to come and get it done."
Antoine Green was a sixth-round pick out of North Carolina last year and could factor into the mix. Daurice Fountain is a big-body receiver who impressed on scout team last year. And Isaiah Williams is one of two undrafted rookies the Lions signed at the position.
"The door’s still open all the way around," Randle El said. "That’s the way I see it for my guys in my room, and they know it and it’s part of a competition that will never be put to rest. Like you’re always competing, that’s part of it."
Contact Dave Birkett atdbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at@davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Battle for WR jobs 'still open all the way around' for Detroit Lions
