Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown had 119 catches for 1,515 yards in 2023 and he put up those big numbers despite some injury issues.
St. Brown is one of the players involved in the Receiver series on Netflix and he recounts a couple of injuries that he had to deal with early in the campaign. St. Brown hurt his toe during the team’s Week Two loss to the Seahawks, but was well enough to play against the Falcons the next week. He had nine catches for 102 yards in a Detroit win, but picked up an oblique injury to go with his toe problem.
“I’ve had a hip pointer before, so I thought it was a hip pointer,” St. Brown said. “Maybe it’s just a little bruise. And I’m like, ‘Damn, my toe’s still hurting at this point. Now I have this oblique injury.’”
The Lions played the Packers on a Thursday night in Week Four and St. Brown, who said he was at an eight or nine on 1-10 scale of pain, was on the field again.
“It’s too late for me not to play. The game plan’s in,” St. Brown said. “Painkillers is something that I really don’t like to take unless it’s the Packers.”
St. Brown caught a touchdown — and got doused with a beer by a Packers fan — in the 34-20 Lions win and then got an MRI. He said doctors told him “you tore your oblique completely off the bone,” which led to St. Brown missing Week Six. He returned with 25 catches in his next two games and didn’t miss any more time, which is the kind of durability and grit that helped him earn a sizable contract extension this offseason.