One season after claiming the NFC’s No. 1 seed and sole first-round bye, the Detroit Lions’ season is on the brink. With one more defeat, the Lions will be eliminated from postseason contention, and their fate could be sealed as soon as this afternoon, when Detroit plays travels to face the Minnesota Vikings in a Christmas Day spectacular. The game will kick off at 4:30 p.m. ET.
If the Lions want to keep their season alive, they’ll need a strong performance from wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, who’s been dealing with a knee injury that has limited him in practice all week. He’s listed as questionable, but he’s expected to play unless he experiences a setback in pregame warmups.
Detroit is a 7.5-point favorite for the divisional matchup at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the point total set to 43.5. Below, I’ve detailed my favorite prop bet centered around St. Brown.
Best Amon-Ra St. Brown Prop Bet on DraftKings Sportsbook
Amon-Ra St. Brown U78.5 Receiving Yards (-110)
Fading St. Brown goes against his recent track record, since he’s recorded 79 or more yards in three of the last four games that he’s both started and finished. However, if he’s not 100% healthy, Jared Goff might be more compelled to either dump it off to Jahmyr Gibbs, who had a team-leading 10 catches for 66 yards and a score in the Lions’ Week 16 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, or to throw it to Jameson Williams, who’s actually averaged 111.0 yards per game across his last four games. The Lions also have rookie Isaac TeSlaa, who’s coming off of the best all-around game of his career.
Plus, he has a tough matchup. The Vikings’ defense has been one of the league’s best against opposing wide receivers, limiting them to the fourth-fewest receiving yards, and quarterbacks have had the ninth-worst completion percentage and ninth-worst passer rating against Minnesota. Plus, the Vikings are somewhat of a one-man show: while Byron Murphy Jr. and slot corner Jay Ward have been somewhat gettable, the only cornerback Goff should worry about is Isaiah Rodgers, who ranks 20th of 110 qualified corners by Pro Football Focus’ coverage grades. Rodgers has allowed just a 62.0% completion percentage and only 40.1 yards per game in coverage.
