Volume. Upside. Youth. Those are the three main values every fantasy manager should seek in their first-round pick in dynasty startup leagues. It's more difficult to find that, though, the later into round one a manager makes their first selection.

I have argued the first three picks in a dynasty startup mock draft this year should be the NFL's top three wide receivers --Cincinnati Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase at No. 1,Minnesota Vikings' Justin Jefferson at No. 2 and Dallas Cowboys' CeeDee Lamb at No. 3.

The first running back came off the board in my mock draft at No. 4 with Atlanta Falcons' Bijan Robinson. Fellow star running back Jahmyr Gibbs followed Robinson two picks later at No. 6.

In between Robinson and Gibbs, I argued New York Giants receiver Malik Nabers should go at No. 5 overall.

With the No. 7 selection of a 2025 PPR dynasty startup league draft, I would select Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown:

He may be the seventh player off the board in my mock draft, but St. Brown will provide fantasy managers in dynasty leagues the three main pillars they want -- volume, upside and youth.

St. Brown has never registered a season with fewer than 119 targets. The only receivers going before St. Brown in my mock draft that can also say that are Chase and Nabers, and Nabers has been in the league only one season.

The Lions receiver has posted at least 900 yards and five touchdowns in all four of his NFL seasons too.

St. Brown does it a little bit differently than the other elite fantasy wideouts. He has played about 60% of his offensive snaps in the slot during his career according to Pro Football Focus.

Because of that, St. Brown's upside could be considered a little bit lower than Chase and Jefferson. St. Brown has averaged 11.3 yards per catch in his career while Chase and Jefferson have posted at least 13.7 yards per grab.

But St. Brown still has incredible upside. He's posted three straight campaigns with at least 100 receptions and 1,150 receiving yards. The past two seasons, St. Brown has also had double-digit touchdowns.

St. Brown saw a dip in his target share during 2024 thanks in large part to the continued development of fellow Lions receiver Jameson Williams and tight end Sam LaPorta. The Lions have a lot of mouths to feed on offense with fantasy managers all counting on Gibbs, St. Brown, Williams and LaPorta to be fantasy studs.

But St. Brown is the most proven of the bunch and still only turns 26 years old in October. It's also not a coincidence that with the development of Detroit's other offensive stars, St. Brown has found the end zone more often.

The concern in Detroit is what the Lions offense looks like with new offensive coordinator John Morton. Can he maintain the unit's incredible output that's seen Detroit finish in the top five in scoring and offensive yards three consecutive years?

That's a tall order. But with talent such as St. Brown, it's certainly possible, and with him fulfilling the three main traits fantasy managers should want with a first-round dynasty pick, there's little reason not to feel confident about St. Brown at No. 7 overall.