Amon-Ra St. Brown Embraces Offseason Hype for the Lions’ 2023 Season

Detroit’s Pro Bowl receiver remains competitive as ever, heading into a season in which his team will finally be favored to make some noise.

Amon-Ra St. Brown was genuinely upset about losing to Colin Kaepernick while doing a test trial for the video game Wild Card Football. Most people tend not to show their competitive sides a few minutes after first meeting someone.

Not St. Brown, the Lions’ Pro Bowl wide receiver who once threw verbal jabs at Dyami Brown in a news conference solely because the Commanders drafted Brown ahead of him in 2021.

Kaepernick had just met St. Brown to promote the new arcade-like video game, and already he found himself on St. Brown’s lengthy list of people he needed to be better than. The series was 1–1 before I interrupted to interview the quarterback and receiver. I took the controller from Kaepernick and quickly learned about St. Brown’s competitive side.

“Don’t feel bad. He used that on me earlier,” Kaepernick said after St. Brown turned one of his defenders into a giant to crush my player for a tackle for loss. “This is what I realized, as he’s gotten more and more comfortable, his game play has gotten more aggressive.”

Given how ruthless St. Brown can be with those who’ve doubted him, I wondered what his thoughts were about the Lions’ being the league’s most-hyped team this offseason.

St. Brown is not shying away from the expectations around his team as he heads into his third season :: Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY Sports

After years of the football public expecting the Lions to be bad, now most people are in agreement that they’re going to be very good, confirmed by the league’s scheduling Detroit in Kansas City for the first game of the 2023 season.

But surprisingly, St. Brown didn’t take the opportunity to criticize bandwagon supporters. Instead, he wanted everyone to enjoy what’s about to come for a team that hasn’t won a division title since 1993 and a playoff game since ’91.

“My rookie year, we went 3-13-1, [Lions fans] were still there for us,” St. Brown says. “And now the hype is crazy. When I go back for OTAs and whatnot, you go to the grocery store, you go to the restaurant, whatever you’re doing that day. If a fan sees you, they’re super excited.

“They have big expectations, but I feel like no matter what, they’re always going to be there for us. That’s something, as a player, I really appreciate, because there’s definitely those bandwagon fans that you see with the big teams that win a lot.”

The Lions are the betting favorite to capture the NFC North after finishing with a 9–8 record and winning eight of their final 10 games last season. St. Brown was instrumental in the Lions’ late surge last season, which fell short because they lost the tiebreaker to the Seahawks for the final wild-card spot in the NFC.

St. Brown, who’ll turn 24 in October, recorded 106 catches for 1,161 yards and six touchdowns, and earned his first Pro Bowl selection. But his no-mercy attitude was just as important for the Lions to ditch their reputation as losers.

“I don’t forget things like that,” St. Brown said last season when he mentioned Dyami Brown after playing against the Commanders. “I see him across the sideline from where I’m standing during the game. I’m going to give every team hell.”

St. Brown is now an established star receiver, but he can still recite the names and colleges of the 16 wide receivers who were drafted ahead of him before the Lions took him in the fourth round at pick No. 112.

“I have to pause this game, though,” St. Brown said before listing the names, which he didn’t need to do with a double-digit lead against me.

He ticked off the names from Kadarius Toney (20) to Rashod Bateman (27) to Josh Palmer (77) to Dez Fitzpatrick (109). All names of players St. Brown has clearly outperformed in the past two seasons. He also has a case for being better than Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith, the first three receivers drafted in 2021 (and all in the top 10).

St. Brown probably shouldn’t glance at Sports Illustrated’s wide receiver rankings, where he did not crack the top 10, but the more motivation, the better for the Lions. They’re going to need him to play at an All-Pro level to meet the high expectations and with wide receiver Jameson Williams suspended the first six games of the season for violating the league’s gambling policy.

“With the Lions, they haven’t really won anything in years,” St. Brown says. “To be a player on a team with a little bit of hype, fans are excited, it’s fun. Cool to see as a player.”

Detiot shouldn’t worry about high expectations. St. Brown is always up for a challenge, even the small ones.

“Sorry, I had to whoop that [butt],” St. Brown said after crushing me, 15–0.