St. Brown missed Week 4 against Seattle, and the Lions didn’t skip a beat. In his absence, TE T.J. Hockenson and WR Josh Reynolds stepped up in a narrow loss. If St. Brown plays, he’s an automatic start in this offense, but if he sits, other playmakers can be turned to as flex values.

Relevant News

• Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle) will practice Friday
• Amon-Ra St. Brown (ankle) does not practice Thursday
• Amon-Ra St. Brown given a rest day Wednesday

What the Experts are Saying

St. Brown logged back-to-back DNPs to open the season before a limited practice on Friday, which has led to a questionable tag. This feels like Detroit should have slapped him with a doubtful tag, but I’m guessing Dan Campbell doesn’t want to give away that his top receiver is probably out again this week. If St. Brown is active, expect a full workload but lower your expectations of his effectiveness. He’d be a volatile WR2. This season he’s run about 66% of his routes from the slot, ranking tenth in yards per route run and 19th in PFF receiving grade (minimum ten targets). He’s seventh in target share and ninth in targets per route run. He would match up against Miles Bryant, who has allowed a 70% catch rate and 105.2 passer rating.

-Derek Brown

True game-time decision. Slightly lean towards him sitting. If he plays, expect less than his typical production. Ankles don’t tend to affect WRs on a per-play basis, but data suggests they see fewer snaps and targets when dealing with sprains that knock them out of practice for almost 2 full weeks.

-Deepak Chona