Notes: 4 Detroit Lions make Sports Info Solutions’ All-Rookie teams

Only one other team had more rookies make SIS’ All-Rookie teams.

Last week, two Detroit Lions ended up making PFF’s All-Rookie team. Offensive tackle Penei Sewell and nose tackle Alim McNeill earn the well-deserved honors after promising inaugural season in the NFL.

Analytical group Sports Info Solutions (SIS) released their first and second All-Rookie teams, and the news was even better for the Lions. Four players ended up making their two-team squad, which was more than any other team besides the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have six. The four: Sewell, McNeill, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and kicker Riley Patterson.

The interesting thing about SIS’s list is that it was based on their Total Points metric—although some close decisions were broken via other stats. Total Points is basically a mixture of the popular Expected Points Added with individual performance on the play. You can read more about Total Points here.

This is interesting because Amon-Ra St. Brown actually came out with the highest Total Points of any rookie receiver this year. Yes, that includes fourth overall pick Ja’Marr Chase, who set the rookie record in the Super Bowl era for 1,429 receiving yards.

“It took a few games for the new staff to get St. Brown consistently in the mix, but once they did, he flourished,” SIS’s Nathan Cooper and John Todd wrote. “From Week 4 on, his 84 receptions ranked tied for 9th and his 869 receiving yards were 15th. Additionally, among receivers with at least 50 targets in that span, his 97.5% on-target catch rate ranked 2nd in the NFL, while his completion rate and drop rate both were in the Top 5.”

While St. Brown and Sewell were first-team All Rookie, McNeill and Patterson were named to the second team. You can view the entire list here.

• A cool moment from Monday night: Jazmyn and Marvin Jones Jr. were at SoFi Stadium to watch their bud, Matthew Stafford, play in the Rams vs. Cardinals Wild Card game (third picture in):

• Justin Rogers of the Detroit News did a two-part mailbag this week. The first tackled everything from uniforms to player buy-in to what Jared Goff has to do to keep his job beyond 2022. The second talks about potential trade-ups and downs in the draft, and why Lions fans should temper their expectations in free agency.

• Would you like more Amon-Ra St. Brown records set in his rookie season? Doesn’t matter, because you’re getting them:

• As noted by Brad Berreman of SideLion Report, Bleacher Report’s list of worst contracts for every NFL team includes three former Lions: Kenny Golladay, A’Shawn Robinson, and Graham Glasgow.

• Alim McNeill has his own clothing line called “Dream.” He just launched the clothing line’s Instagram page, if you’re interested:

• More rookie stuff: Amon-Ra St. Brown and Penei Sewell were left of ESPN’s top-10 rookies for 2021, but both made the “just missed” section of eight honorable mentions.