It's a good thing that Amon-Ra St. Brown didn't get his way during the 2021 NFL Draft. Otherwise, the Lions star receiver would have never ended up in Detroit.
During a recent interview, St. Brown actually admitted that the Lions were the ONE team that he didn't want to play for going into the NFL Draft. At the time, St. Brown was hoping that the Packers would draft him so that he could play on the same team as his brother, Equanimeous St. Brown. However, if Green Bay wasn't willing to take him, then his second option was ANYONE but the Lions.
After the first two days of the draft, St. Brown still hadn't been picked and he admitted he was also frustrated by that.
"When it got to Day 3, I was already mad," St. Brown said, via ESPN's Eric Woodyard. "I even told my brother [Equanimeous], 'If there's one team I don't want to go to, that's the Lions. Just, please, I don't want to go to the Lions.' [My brother] was on the Packers at the time and I was like, 'I want to play with him.'"
The Packers made three picks before St. Brown went off the board at 112, including the selection of receiver Amari Rodgers at 85th overall, After Green Bay passed on him, St. Brown ended up getting selected 27 picks later by the one team he didn't want to go to.
"Sure enough, I check my phone and it's 3-1-3, Detroit," St. Brown said. "I'm like, 'No way.' I was happy, but I was unhappy at the same time because I didn't want to come here."
Fortunately for St. Brown, things have worked out for the best. The two-time Pro Bowler has been a key part of Detroit's offense over the past three seasons, and the Lions showed their appreciation for him last week by giving him a four-year, $120 million extension. Although St. Brown didn't originally want to end up in Detroit, he seems pretty happy with how things worked out.
"Looking back on it, it's [for] the best," St. Brown said of landing in Detroit. "I don't think there's another team where I could have done what I've done here with the people that are around me: The coaches, my teammates, the fans, the city. Just the whole story of how everything has been going so far, I would pay for this if I could, to have this whole thing happen again, because it's a perfect story."
At this point, the only way the perfect story could get any better for St. Brown is if the Lions win a Super Bowl with him. They came one step away from getting to the big game last year and with a stacked roster in 2024, they'll be one of the favorites in the NFC to get to the game this year.
