ALLEN PARK — If there’s anything to be learned from the 2021 NFL draft, it’s that you never want to make Amon-Ra St. Brown angry.
Now just days before the start of the playoffs, he’s angry again.
“I’m pissed,” he said.
St. Brown was a surprising omission from the Pro Bowl rosters that were announced on Wednesday night. The Detroit Lions were well represented, landing five players on the initial team, a franchise high since 1999. But the leader in yards from scrimmage for the No. 3 offense in the league was nowhere to be found.
“Yeah, I was hot,” St. Brown told MLive after practice on Thursday. “The receivers who got picked are all great players. But I was hot.”
Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb, Philadelphia’s A.J. Brown, Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans and the Los Angeles Rams’ Puka Nacua earned the Pro Bowl nods at the position in the NFC. All are quality players, although St. Brown has more catches (112) than all of them except Lamb. He also more receiving yards (1,371) than Evans, and more touchdowns (nine) than Brown and Nacua.
He also leads the whole league in 100-yard games (eight), a show of his incredible consistency, and ranks second in catch percentage (75.7%), a remarkable feat considering his high usage rate. His 154 targets are nearly triple every other receiver on the team.
Yet St. Brown still was left on the outside looking in, being named first alternate instead.
“I guess I didn’t do enough during the season,” St. Brown said. “I guess I have to go harder.”
Tight end Sam LaPorta, center Frank Ragnow and right tackle Penei Sewell were all named to the Pro Bowl from the Lions offense, while edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson represented the defense and Jalen Reeves-Maybin made it on special teams.
That’s quite the haul, and a show of respect for the NFC North champs.
But it was noteworthy three of the faces of the No. 3 offense in the league did not make it. In addition to St. Brown, running back Jahmyr Gibbs was named a first alternate, while quarterback Jared Goff was a second alternate.
“A lot of people just look at numbers and not necessarily the tape,” offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said. “So when you look at it, yeah, (Goff’s) got some interceptions, but as we talked about it over the last few weeks, some of those have occurred on fourth down and he’s trying to make a play under certain circumstances and scenarios and so maybe the numbers are skewed a little bit. I don’t know, I can’t say for the other quarterbacks that it’s not the same for them as well. But listen, he’s playing really good football for us all year, and whether he’s first team, alternate, it really doesn’t matter. We’ve got our sights set elsewhere.”
The Lions have locked up at least the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, and will host a postseason game next week at Ford Field. They can climb to No. 2 if they beat the Vikings on Sunday, plus get losses from Philadelphia and Dallas.
If the way St. Brown has played with a chip on his shoulder over falling to 112th is any indication, Minnesota is going to get the very best of him on Sunday, and whoever awaits after that.
