Ranking the Packers (No. 39): Equanimeous St. Brown

Equanimeous Tristan Imhotep J. St. Brown spent last season on injured reserve, taking away a chance to build upon a solid rookie year.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In a tradition that stretches more than a decade, here is our annual ranking of the 90 players on the Green Bay Packers’ roster. This isn’t merely a look at the best players. Rather, it’s a formula that combines talent, salary, importance of the position, depth at the position and, for young players, draft positioning. More than the ranking, we hope you learn a little something about every player on the roster.

No. 39: WR Equanimeous St. Brown (6-5, 214, third season, Notre Dame)

St. Brown suffered an ankle injury in the preseason and spent the year on injured reserve, robbing the talented receiver the chance to build on a solid rookie season. Given the play of the receiver corps, it could have used his services.

St. Brown, who surprisingly slid into the sixth round of the 2018 draft despite his blend of size and speed (4.48 in the 40), caught 21 passes for 328 yards and zero touchdowns as a rookie. He saved his best for last, with five catches for 94 yards against the Jets. While he caught only 61.7 percent of targeted passes, he had zero drops and finished third on the team with 1.31 yards per route – better than Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s 1.22 and Randall Cobb’s 1.13.

“I’m excited about getting EQ back from injury and seeing how he feels,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said during an offseason conference call. “He really made some great strides his rookie year, especially towards the end of the season making plays for us and just kind of growing each week. He’s got a great approach to the game. It will be fun to see him healthy.”

Equanimeous Tristan Imhotep J. St. Brown has an unusual name and an unusual story.

He is the son of John Brown, a three-time Mr. World and two-time Mr. Universe bodybuilder. St. Brown is one of three children; his younger brothers are named after Egyptian gods. With a German mother, they went to school in Germany and France to be immersed in other languages. Their mother, Miriam, is from Germany. They met in Germany at an international fitness show. In a story by ESPN.com, Brown said he wanted to settle down and have athletic children. What caught his attention? Her big toes, big knees and big IQ.

“People laugh at me, and she probably gets a little mad,” Brown said. “I met her and looked at her big toe. I thought, wow, she has big toes, big knees and she's tall. ... She's also very smart. That's the big thing, very smart. And I knew she would give me the kids I wanted.”

While John Brown was a legendary weightlifter, their three children became receivers, with Osiris at Stanford and Amon-Ra a star at USC.

Why he’s got a chance: Big, fast and sure-handed never go out of style. And while St. Brown might not play to that 4.48 speed, he’s still got a tremendous skill-set. The Packers, of course, made only one noteworthy move at receiver during the offseason with the signing of Devin Funchess. Funchess, however, is far from a sure thing, so the door is open for St. Brown to claim a big role in the offense.

90 TO 1 ROSTER COUNTDOWN

Part 1 (87 to 90): FB Elijah Wellman, FB Jordan Jones, G Zack Johnson, S Henry Black

Part 2 (83 to 86): CBs DaShaun Amos, Will Sunderland, Stanford Samuels, Marc-Antoine Dequoy

Part 3 (80 to 82): DT Willington Previlon, RB Damarea Crockett, S Frankie Griffin

Part 4 (77 to 79): G Simon Stepaniak, G Cole Madison, T Cody Conway

Part 5 (76): QB Jalen Morton can throw a football 100 yards

Part 6 (73 to 75) TE James Looney, TE Evan Baylis, RB Patrick Taylor

Part 7 (70 to 72) OLBs Jamal Davis, Randy Ramsey, Greg Roberts

Part 8 (67 to 69) LBs Krys Barnes, Delontae Scott, Tipa Galeai

No. 66: Well-rounded OT Travis Bruffy

No. 65: WR Malik Taylor

No. 64: WR Darrius Shepherd

No. 63: RB Dexter Williams

No. 62: DT Gerald Willis

No. 61: ILB Curtis Bolton

No. 60: CB Kabion Ento

No. 59: C Jake Hanson

No. 58: OLB Jonathan Garvin

No. 57: OT John Leglue

No. 56: DT Treyvon Hester

No. 55: WR Darrell Stewart

No. 54: WR Reggie Begelton

No. 53: S Vernon Scott

No. 52: OLB Tim Williams

No. 51: Ka’darHollman

No. 50: G/T Jon Runyan

No. 49: WR Jake Kumerow

No. 48: OT Alex Light

No. 47: TE Robert Tonyan

No. 46: LS Hunter Bradley

No. 45: DT Montravius Adams

No. 44: ILB Kamal Martin

No. 43: OT Yosh Nijman

No. 42: S Will Redmond

No. 41: G/C Lucas Patrick

No. 40: ILB Ty Summers


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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.