Amon-Ra St. Brown Will Practice Friday

Amon-Ra St. Brown still has opportunity to play Week 5.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will practice Friday, and his status for the team’s Week 5 matchup with the New England Patriots is uncertain.

Both he and running back D’Andre Swift missed Detroit’s Week 4 matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, a 48-45 loss. Though both are important pieces within offensive coordinator Ben Johnson’s unit, the Lions’ depth impressed in their absence.

St. Brown, nursing an ankle injury, had been the team’s leading receiver through the three games he played (catching 23 passes for 253 yards and three scores). Tight end T.J. Hockenson took the team lead with a big day in Week 4, catching eight passes for 179 yards and two scores.

“Certainly, any time you can get a player like him back, it helps from production but also what he brings,” said head coach Dan Campbell Friday. “He’s a spark plug, he’s a leader, he’s a hard-hat guy. He’s gonna bring his lunch pail and go to work. Just to have him in any capacity would be very helpful. 

For the second straight week, Jamaal Williams will be the featured running back. Craig Reynolds and Justin Jackson will provide depth.

If St. Brown can play, he’ll join DJ Chark and Josh Reynolds as a starter, with Tom Kennedy and Kalif Raymond providing depth.

Detroit has three receivers on its practice squad. Maurice Alexander was activated for Week 4, while undrafted rookie Josh Johnson and undrafted free agent Brandon Zylstra round out the wideouts on the practice squad.

Plans for New England

The Patriots are in a murky injury situation of their own, as starting quarterback Mac Jones’ status for the game is in doubt. The second-year signal-caller missed last week’s matchup with the Green Bay Packers, with an ankle injury.

Backup Brian Hoyer suffered a concussion in the loss to Green Bay, and was placed on injured reserve. Rookie Bailey Zappe will be the team’s starter, if Jones is unable to play.

Sunday would be the first career start for Zappe, who went 10-for-15 for 99 yards and a touchdown in relief of Hoyer last week. 

Campbell said his team is planning for Jones to be the starter, but feels prepared if it is indeed the rookie under center. 

“We’ve prepared as if Mac’s playing,” Campbell noted. “But, knowing that, if it’s Zappe, it’ll be a little crisper, a little cleaner package. But, they’re kind of settled in what they do regardless of who’s in at quarterback, honestly. They’ve kind of got a road map as to what they do, and we know everything starts with the run. It’s downhill, and it’s get latched on our guys. And, it's double teams and so no matter who they have playing quarterback, that’ll never change.”

The Lions’ head coach admitted he’d seen some of Zappe, who played for the American team coached by Detroit’s staff in the 2022 Senior Bowl.

“We have a pretty good idea of what he was there,” Campbell remarked. “But, certainly, I could see them mixing in a few things he did well and he’s comfortable with. But, I think it, also, is very much what they’ve been doing. They have things they hang their hat on. They’ll be very quarterback friendly. You look at (the Green Bay game), the three or four drives where they had a lot of success. Even with Zappe, I mean, they were very, very efficient.”

Notes

1.) Campbell mentioned Alex Anzalone and Michael Brockers as vocal leaders of the defense, working to recover from a showing against the Seahawks in which they failed to force a punt.

2.) Following the matchup with the Patriots, the Lions will enter their bye week. This will allow the team to get healthy with its one-week break. Campbell called it a blessing, since the bye week is early this year. Ideally, he would like the bye week in the middle of the season. 

“It couldn’t come at a better time for us,” Campbell said. “It actually is a blessing. It’ll be huge to have this bye next week, because we will get a significant amount of our players back, very good players back. So, it’s a blessing, the good Lord’s looking after us.”