Detroit Lions camp observations: Amon-Ra St. Brown impossible to stop in red zone

Listening to Amon-Ra St. Brown talk, watching him work, and knowing how he can turn the slightest of slights into a bottomless tank of jet fuel, it's impossible not to think of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.

St. Brown is coming off one of the most productive two-year stretches any receiver has had to start their NFL career. He has 196 catches in two seasons for 2,073 yards and 11 touchdowns. He set a Detroit Lions rookie record in 2021 with 90 receptions, made the Pro Bowl last year as an alternate and already has established himself as one of the 10 best receivers in the game (no matter where he fell in a recent ESPN poll).

And yet there St. Brown was Tuesday, after a long, hot, highly productive practice in which he caught four touchdowns in eight red zone snaps, catching his usual 202 balls off the JUGS machine while most of his teammates had already retreated to the locker room for the day.

"For me, it’s like I feel like you’re only as good as your last year," St. Brown told a small group of reporters after practice. "This is a new year. I have zero catches, zero touchdowns, zero everything. I’m the same as everyone else, so I feel like you got to restart each year and I like to — I have Twitter, I have Instagram. I don’t tweet, but I see stuff. And you guys like to write stuff, and I don’t forget things that I see. You guys like to say certain things, whether it’s negative, positive, and I like to prove people wrong."

There hasn't been much negative written about St. Brown since the Lions made him a fourth-round pick in 2021, but watching his daily post-practice routine and listening to him talk Tuesday, I could not get the vision of Jordan and "The Last Dance" documentary that chronicled his and the Chicago Bulls' rise to dominance in the 1990s out of my head.

St. Brown has an insatiable work ethic and an even bigger drive to prove doubters wrong. Jordan is one of the fiercest, most ruthless competitors sports has ever seen, and "The Last Dance" documentary gave rise to his famous "And-I-took-that-personally" meme.

I asked St. Brown on Tuesday if that documentary spoke to him, and wasn't at all surprised by his answer.

"Yeah. I mean, Jordan — my favorite player of all-time is Kobe (Bryant)," St. Brown said. "That was my guy growing up, Mamba mentality. I lived out in Orange County but my aunt was a huge Laker fan, so when I was young, that’s what I watched was Lakers. And watching Kobe work, just the way he went about his game is something that I always wanted to be like. I wanted to be like Kobe, just his mentality. That was, like I said, my favorite player out of all sports, I don’t care any sport it was, Kobe was my guy.

"And he kind of, if you watch everything you see, Kobe kind of modeled his game after Jordan and just their mentality, when they approached, when they got to work every day, I feel like they were the same guy every day. You never got a different Jordan, you never — I feel like Kobe was the same way and as teammates, I feel like they respect that and you can’t really knock a guy for being the way Jordan was. I mean, when you’re that great at that stage of your career and you see the way he’s working, outworking everybody, staying before practice, after practice, it’s something. For me it’s inspiring and I want to be like that."

St. Brown would be the first to admit he has a long way to go to reach the level of excellence Jordan and Bryant achieved. They are Hall-of-Fame players with 11 titles between them.

But as he enters his third season, it's clear St. Brown isn't slowing down in the least. On Tuesday, he was part of a dominant showing by the first-team offense that mostly moved the ball at will. The Lions still aren't practicing in pads, so all the usual caveats apply, but Jared Goff completed his first 20 passes in team and seven-on-seven drills with nine of those completions going to St. Brown.

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The two have undeniable chemistry, especially in the red zone, where St. Brown was impossible to stop Tuesday. He made a great catch over Tracy Walker in the back of the end zone in seven-on-seven drills (on a beautiful throw from Goff) that had receivers coach Antwaan Randle El sprinting his way in celebration, he outdueled Jerry Jacobs for a jump ball on a fade route a few periods later and wrestled another touchdown from Will Harris' hands on a short pass from the 10-yard line.

St. Brown has been Goff's go-to receiver for two years running, and if Tuesday's practice is any indication, the two could produce even bigger fireworks in 2023.

More observations from Tuesday's practice

∎ Goff finished 20 of 22 passing, by my count, with his only misses coming on the final two plays of the day in an end-of-half situation. With 1:10 on the clock, the offense started from its own 25-yard line and moved the ball to the opposing 35 on four plays before Goff threw low and incomplete to Kalif Raymond.

Kerby Joseph intercepted an underthrown Goff pass to Sam LaPorta on the next play, but Goff had a solid day overall. As perfect as his TD pass to St. Brown was in the back of the end zone, Goff's best throw came on a sideline route to LaPorta in the first team period of practice, when he dropped a pass just over the head of Alex Anzalone about 25 yards downfield.

"He looks great," St. Brown said. "He’s confident. Like I said, the more years we have together with the coaching staff, us as players, the chemistry, I think we’re only going to build from that."

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∎ The Lions could have used an instant replay official at practice Tuesday. St. Brown said he had to go watch his catch at the back of the end zone to make sure he got two feet down; defensive players didn't think he did. And rookie cornerback Starling Thomas V was part of two close plays that were either touchdowns or pass breakups.

Thomas and wide receiver Maurice Alexander wrestled for one ball in the end zone during seven-on-seven red zone drills. Alexander got to his feet and celebrated with the ball in his hands, but Thomas waved the play incomplete as if the ball hit the turf. In the final team period of the day, Alexander beat Thomas on a fade route, but Thomas reached his hand in for a late deflection.

Two plays later, Alexander beat cornerback Khalil Dorsey for a no-doubt touchdown and celebrated by punting the ball in the air and doing the, ahem, Jobu dance from "Major League."

∎ With Emmanuel Moseley still out following his second knee procedure and Harris playing exclusively as a slot cornerback Tuesday in C.J. Gardner-Johnson's absence, the Lions used a pair of undrafted rookie cornerbacks on their second-team defense: Thomas and Steven Gilmore.

Thomas has been running with the twos all camp after an impressive spring, while Gilmore has played primarily with the third-team defense. It's always dangerous to read too much into depth charts this time of year, and as veteran cornerback Cam Sutton said, it's important for young players to get their feet wet on the field. Still, it's interesting to see how quickly Thomas and Gilmore have progressed.

"We're just throwing different things at different guys, just putting guys in different situations," Sutton said. "This is a feel game. It's kind of hard all the time to see it on the outside-in perspective or see it on the study type of perspective of just watching film. You have to get the physical reps to be able to pass that communication along, make sure all 11 parts are seeing the right things together."

∎ Graham Glasgow took first-team reps Tuesday in the right guard battle, ahead of Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who did not finish practice because of an undisclosed injury.

Vaitai told me he was fine as he walked off the field after practice, but he missed all of last season with a back injury that popped up in training camp and battled foot problems early in his tenure with the Lions. His health will be something to monitor all camp.

∎ Joseph's interception was the third in as many days for the Lions' defense, though it's the first off Goff. And it's worth noting that two rookies, LaPorta and Jahmyr Gibbs, were part of the Lions' two-minute personnel in their situational period at the end of practice. St. Brown, Raymond and Josh Reynolds also were on the field, and that seems like the Lions' top receiver group for now.

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∎ Defensively, I thought Jack Campbell made a nice play for a would-be tackle on a toss to Craig Reynolds early in practice. Campbell seems to diagnose plays quickly, much like Malcolm Rodriguez did last year. He plays fast. He's a player I'll be watching when pads come on Friday.

Thomas and offensive tackle Germain Ifedi got tangled up on the Reynolds toss play when Thomas took offense to Ifedi blocking him into the sideline. Coaches and players quickly separated the two players, and practice went on as normal.

∎ One final personnel note for the day: Rookie receiver Antoine Green got time with the first-team offense during pre-practice installation and took at least one snap with the group in team drills. The seventh-round pick was a blocker for a handoff to Gibbs on the play, but he's a big body with a good catching radius who's flashed a time or two during all three practices the Lions have had this summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see him mix in with the ones more in the near future.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions observations: Amon-Ra St. Brown impossible to stop