'I'm at the Bottom': Amon-Ra St. Brown Ready to Prove Himself Again

Lions receiver ready to prove again he is among top NFL receivers.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14). / David Reginek-Imagn Images

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is preparing himself mentally to prove again he is among the best at his position.

Even after receiving a hefty contract extension and a season in which he surpassed 1,500 receiving yards, the former fourth-round pick is motivated by the desire to put together numerous productive NFL seasons.

“I think for me, it’s just the same mentality that I have every year. It’s a new year, everything is reset. This is a what have you done for me lately type of league and right now, I’m at the bottom. I’ve got to restart, I’ve got to do it again and that’s what motivates me, really," said St. Brown. "That’s what gets me going. Last year was last year, it’s a whole new year. I’ve got to put it together again. It’s easy to put one or two years together, but to do it five, six, seven years, that’s what separates you. So for me, that’s really my motivation, doing it, trying to do it again. It’s easy to do it one or two years, but to do it each and every year for several seasons, that’s really what separates guys.”

Handling double teams

The former USC Trojan wide receiver is not going to fly under the radar, as it is expected defenses could double team him or work to scheme to limit his productivity on a weekly basis.

When asked by Lions On SI about facing different coverages, St. Brown replied, “I think so. With the guys we have, we have a bunch of guys on offense. So it’s gonna be tough when you have guys like LaPorta, Jamo, Jahmyr, David, you go across, we’ve got playmakers on offense. That’s what I love about our offense. If you double me, someone’s gonna be 1-on-1 and it’s probably not gonna be a matchup that you like. That’s why I love playing here, we have a bunch of playmakers and either you double me, double Sam, double Jamo, one of us is gonna find an open crease. Ben Johnson does a great job of understanding, anticipating that teams might double certain players and he has ways to get other guys open.” 

Like many, St. Brown is anticipating a home crowd that could break sound records. In last year's playoff meeting between the Lions and Rams, sound reached 133.6 decibels. The NFL record for loudest stadium was set in 2014 at Arrowhead Stadium, when noise reached 142.2 decibels.

Now that the regular season has started, the team has pivoted away from openly acknowledging Super Bowl goals. Rather, they are taking a singular focus that requires doing what it takes to prepare and practice hard for that week's opponent.

“I think we learned a lot of things last year. It was a pretty successful season if you look overall," St. Brown explained. "But we understand that we want to get to that big game and we fell one game short last year, so we’re gonna do anything we can this year to not make the same mistakes that we did last year. Like I said, it’s just Week one.

"You don’t make the playoffs in Week one. You’ve got to put together a bunch of weeks and we’ve got to take it one week at a time," St. Brown continued. "I feel like, as a team, we understand that. This week it’s the Rams, and so all of our focus is on L.A.”