NFL: Equanimeous St. Brown in profile – prognosis, strengths, weaknesses

The German-American Equanimeous St. Brown is one of the more exciting mid-round prospects in the NFL Draft 2018: statistically, the wide receiver had a disappointing season, but the potential for a big leap in the NFL is there. SPOX goes into depth and analyses St. Brown’s strengths and weaknesses and provides a forecast for the draft.

By now, most of you may have heard the name at least once and wondered: Equanimeous St. Brown is not exactly the most common name, not even in the NFL. “John Brown? What is that supposed to be? There are too many of them,” said Equanimeous’s father John when asked about the curious names of his sons.

The other two brothers listen to the melodious names Osiris and Amon-Ra, both are currently receivers in college. Father John, the former Mr. Universe, wanted the most unusual and “no slave names”. Mission accomplished.

He also had the “St.” added to his last name because he didn’t think “Brown” looked good on the jersey alone. Mother Miriam, who met John at a fitness fair in Essen and moved to the USA after the wedding with him, joined in, but her roots never let her sons forget: All three speak English with the father, German with the mother. Amon-Ra and Osiris even played for Germany’s under-19 national team in 2015 and became European vice-champions.

The children also learned French in Paris, which was already a source of demand at St. Brown in the current draft process: “The most common question I hear is whether I love football. That’s because I’ve been to Notre Dame and speak several languages. But I understand that the teams want to get to know me as a person. I know why they ask me that. But I made it clear that this has been my dream since I was a little child – and that I am still following my dream.”

This dream will lead the German-American to the NFL during the upcoming draft, that much is clear. But in which round? What are the strengths and weaknesses of Equanimeous St. Brown? SPOX takes a close look at the receiver with the unusual name and playing style.

The tape from St. Brown quickly reveals an unusual type of player. Or to put it another way: A player you don’t necessarily expect to look like. With a body height of 1.96 meters, at least a contested catch receiver, in the style of Julio Jones or A.J. Green, is initially subconsciously expected.

That, however, is not Brown.

Instead, it is striking how subtle, efficient and smooth St. Brown moves. It is a long speed receiver that continuously increases its speed during the route. At the same time he shows very good cuts and small, fluid movements, with which he gets away from his opponent.

This is also evident in the case of Comeback Routes, St. Brown is doing better than average against Man and Zone Coverage. He also impressively demonstrated his speed on the Combine (4.48 seconds on the 40 yards). The facilities here are very promising, St. Brown has what it takes to become a very good Route Runner in the NFL. A quality that by no means comes with every college receiver – but which is a central criterion for success in the NFL.

He’s already moving well across the middle of the field and through traffic here, one of St. Brown’s specialties in college was catching Crosser over the middle and leaving defenders in front or behind.

As a result, St. Brown was used everywhere, 42.9 percent as left outside receiver, 39.4 percent as right outside receiver and 17.4 percent in the slot, according to Perception Reception.

In addition, he has very good body control, which leads to a large catch radius and also to some spectacular big plays. St. Brown is one of the better receivers in the draft when it comes to the Nine or Go route. He usually gets along with press coverage thanks to his very long arms, but here the job in the NFL naturally becomes more difficult.

As promising as his route running is – in blocking and also in fiercely contested wrestling you can see the still missing physique: St. Brown as a run-blocker in the NFL will have to increase even more and also have to put on more muscle mass.

He is already working on this, also with his father: With the Combine he was already several kilograms heavier than during the season, in which, according to reports, he weighed just over 90 kilograms.

Its route tree – that’s for receivers coming into the NFL, but anything but a rarity – will also have to be expanded at the next level.

St. Brown will also work on his release on the next level. Although it provides a good basis here, the NFL must be even more explosive.

On the bottom line, however, the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages. St. Brown is an interesting receiver with an unusual mix of size and mobility. He could at least help a team in the NFL as a Deep Threat early on, with the perspective potential for much more.

That will also make it exciting to see which offense St. Brown lands in. A more vertical offense with deep route combinations undoubtedly makes more sense than a scheme focused on the short pass game – even though his experience in the slot makes him versatile. St. Brown could make sense for a team like Indianapolis, Arizona or Seattle, which have all lost potential deep threats in the Free Agency.

For St. Brown, the draft comes at an unfavorable time: After his extremely promising 2016 season, he lost his quarterback DeShone Kizer to the NFL, which made itself more than clearly apparent. The scheme changed and quarterback quality crashed; St. Brown had a much harder time collecting stats.

However, it was probably the right decision to sign up for the draft now, as there is no quick recovery in sight in the quarterback situation in Notre Dame. Another statistically mixed season would have pushed its draft shares down again.

So St. Brown belongs to the second row of receivers in this year’s draft, behind players like Courtland Sutton, Calvin Ridley or D.J. Moore. Teams will still have to take their time at St. Brown, but the potential and physical conditions to ultimately become one of the best receivers in its class are undoubtedly there.

Where he ends up is, of course, completely open, in a conversation with ran.de, St. Brown at least showed a small tendency: “With the Combine you talk to every team, even if only for a relatively short time. “I had a little more intensive talks with the Saints, Bills, Cardinals, Colts, 49ers and Texans.”

SPOX tip: 3rd round.