St. Brown's Fast Start Puts Lions Wideout in OPOY Conversation
The short version
- Amon-Ra St. Brown leads the NFL with 19 receptions through two games.
- He has 209 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 27 targets.
- St. Brown joined Andre Rison (1994) as the only players with 9+ catches and 2+ TDs in each of a season's first two games.
- Jahmyr Gibbs opened the season as the betting favorite for OPOY.
- The Lions host the Jets on Sunday, Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. ET.
Amon-Ra St. Brown tops the NFL with 19 receptions through two weeks and matched an Andre Rison milestone from 1994.
Before the 2026 NFL season kicked off, Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs was the betting favorite to take home offensive player of the year honors. Two weeks in, the frontrunner inside the Lions' own building may be someone else entirely: wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
St. Brown has opened the year with 19 receptions on 27 targets, good for 209 yards and four touchdowns, an 11.0-yard average per catch. According to Tim Twentyman of detroitlions.com, those 19 grabs lead the league, his yardage total ranks fourth, and his four scoring catches are level with Seattle's Jaxon Smith-Njigba for most in the NFL.
The start has also landed St. Brown in the record book. He and Andre Rison (1994) are now the only players in league history to open a season with at least nine catches and two receiving touchdowns in each of the first two games.
Detroit's next chance to extend the run comes Sunday, Sept. 27, when the Jets travel to Ford Field for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff. Smith-Njigba, meanwhile, plays that same day at Washington, with 17 catches, 277 yards and four touchdowns of his own through two weeks.
Smith-Njigba claimed the award a year ago, setting up a potential season-long duel between the two receivers at the top of the OPOY race.
