2018 Raiders Draft Prospect: WR Equanimeous St. Brown -

2018 Raiders Draft Prospect Profile

Position: WR

School: Notre Dame

Height: 6’5″

Weight: 214 pounds

Background

There’s much out there about Equanimeous St. Brown’s background. He is the son of a former Mr. Universe, John Brown, and the older brother of two division I athletes. The St. Brown boys are also speaking multiple languages and are extraordinary students.

On the field, St. Brown went from 58 catches 961 yards and 9 touchdowns in2016 to 33 catches, 515 receiving yards and four touchdowns. At the combine, he attributed that to the new offense and coaches. Notre Dame was a run-heavy offense that found ways to win more games in 2017 than the season before.

Traits

Athletically, St. Brown is a very good combination of size, length and speed. He also has great explosiveness in and out of breaks due to his very good body control and acceleration.

Physically, he has the physical strength as he did 20 reps of bench at the combine. However, St. Brown needs to improve his game strength at the next level. Despite having a superior frame, he can get bullied on releases as well as when the ball is the air. He also needs to show more aggression on his blocks. His hands also could be stronger to snag the ball in the air and hold onto it.

St. Brown uses good processing speed to concentrate and locate the ball. He’s good at finding running lanes to beat defenders as well as knowing where the sideline is to complete catches.

Hands

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He has the length and frame to extend his catch radius to make catches. St. Brown needs to do more to extend and high point balls. He has average hand strength so he can easily get the ball knocked out of his hands. When he does make the catch, he is quick to secure it and break into stride.

Speed

Long strides make him a deceptively fast receiver who uses good play speed to glide through routes. He has good play speed that keeps defenders honest on a variety of inside or outside routes. He needs to show more consist speed on all of his routes. St.Brown has a second gear that can help him take balls the distance after the catch. At the Combine, he ran a 4.48 but he did not always show that speed.

Route Running

St. Brown uses very good explosion in and out of breaks. He doesn’t waste a movement on his routes since he has excellent body control. St.Brown needs to use better leverage on routes to create separation. He has a diverse route tree but needs to work on better disguising his routes consistently.

Raiders Fit

Oakland has a need at receiver whether they keep Michael Crabtree or not. However, Crabtree might be the perfect mentor to help St. Brown improve his skills.

Either way, St. Brown brings the speed, size and ability to be an ideal outside receiver in the Raiders scheme. He could become a verticle threat immediately but he could develop as a position receiver if he learns to be physical with his body and gets his hands stronger. He would be an ideal rotational receiver. His strong academic background should make NFL terminology easy for him to pick up. St. Brown should adapt to the speed of the game well too.

Nonetheless, he needs to work on his consistency before he could start with the Raiders. He’s a capable blocker but he again needs to show consistency and aggression. St. Brown is an ideal high upside pick for the Raiders in the second or third round.

Summary

A team might fall in love with his potential and select him as high as the first round but the Raiders are best waiting for him to slide. He could develop a legit number one receiver with his athletic tools and some more polish. St. Brown was not consistently a threat, especially his second year. He came up big in some big moments but he needed more urgency throughout the rest of the game. He also struggled versus more physical corners.