Detroit Lions to talk extension with Amon-Ra St. Brown's agent at NFL combine
INDIANAPOLIS — The Detroit Lions would like to sign Amon-Ra St. Brown to a contract extension this offseason and are scheduled to meet with their leading receiver’s representatives at the NFL combine this week.
While no deal is imminent, the Lions have made it clear they intend to invest in their own roster this offseason.
They signed linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin to a two-year extension that makes him the highest-paid core special teams player in the NFL, have prioritized getting a new deal done with quarterback Jared Goff and project to enter the 2024 league year with more than $50 million in cap space.
St. Brown, entering his fourth NFL season, is in line for a multi-year extension that will make him one of the highest-paid receivers in football.
He tied for second in the NFL with 119 receptions and finished third with 1,515 receiving yards last season to earn first-team All-Pro honors, and is scheduled to make $3.366 million next season on the final year of his rookie deal.
Top contracts for receivers have soared in recent years with 14 pass catchers averaging at least $20 million on their current contracts and Miami’s Tyreek Hill making a position-best $30 million per season.
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The top of the market could reset again this offseason, after the salary cap unexpectedly jumped more than 9% to $255.4 million and with players like St. Brown, Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson in line for new deals.
While not asked specifically about St. Brown, Lions general manager Brad Holmes explained this week why he and head coach Dan Campbell prefer to invest in their own players rather than splurge on free agents.
Along with St. Brown, fellow 2021 draft picks Penei Sewell and Alim McNeill are eligible for extensions this offseason for the first time.
“It’s not just, ‘Oh, you drafted them and you know them so even if they’re not performing well and they’re not meeting expectations that you just keep them,’” he said. “No, it’s that you try your best to acquire the right players through the draft and hopefully the goal is to develop and then once they get to a point where they’re eligible to re-sign, you re-sign them and you feel really, really good about it.”
Campbell has held St. Brown up as a player who exemplifies what the Lions hope to be about.
A fourth-round pick out of USC in 2021, St. Brown is considered one of the Lions’ hardest workers and most dependable players. He routinely catches 202 balls off a Jugs machine after practice and last year played in 16 of a possible 17 games despite dealing with a core muscle injury and blisters early in the season.
“The things that he does every day in practice and every game show up all the time,” Campbell said in January. “That’s what a pro is and it’s why he’s a pro. I mean, it’s — you can write down everything that he’s going to do and he’ll do it. Man, you already — I can bank on everything. His whole routine that he goes through on every day of the week to prepare, and then what it’s going to look like in pregame, what it’s going to look like in the game, what it’s going to look like postgame, what he’s going to do on his day off.
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“It’s the same thing and there’s nothing easy about what he does. But for him, it's routine and it’s why he’s a great player. It’s consistency. You know exactly what you’re going to get every time, so it’s easy when you have a guy like him on your team. It’s easy to gameplan with him what you can do because you know what you’re going to get.”
The Lions return their top three pass catchers from last season in St. Brown, tight end Sam LaPorta and running back Jahmyr Gibbs, plus speedster Jameson Williams, but could lose Josh Reynolds and Donovan People-Jones to free agency.
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St. Brown has led the Lions in receptions and receiving yards the past three seasons and has improved in both categories each year. His 119 catches last season is third most in NFL history, behind Herman Moore (123) and Calvin Johnson (122).
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions to meet with Amon-Ra St. Brown's agent at NFL combine
