Lions observations: Amon-Ra St. Brown is dialed in and fighting for everything

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — There are only so many different ways to describe precisely how good Amon-Ra St. Brown is at what he does for a living.

It seems like the Lions wide receiver has been in the NFL for a decade. It has been two years. Through those two years, he has the most receptions in NFL history to start a career. In Year 3, he looks stronger, like he’s added muscle. His routes are crisper. He’s consistently open. His confidence, already sky high, is on another level after proving his rookie year was not a fluke. He’s become the model of consistency, and one of the most important players on one of the NFL’s best offenses.

Of course, he’s not satisfied with any of it. But you knew that already.

“I feel like you’re only as good as your last year,” he said. “This is a new year. I mean, we’re all zero. I have zero catches, zero touchdowns, zero everything. I’m the same as everyone else. So, I feel like you gotta restart each year.

“I have Twitter. I have Instagram. I don’t tweet but I see stuff. 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.”

That’s the mindset of an elite competitor, and at this point, St. Brown might be one of the best this sport has to offer. He forgets nothing. He quietly internalizes it and shows up the next day ready to work. Over and over again.

In practice, observers are able to see how it all works together in harmony. St. Brown was the best player on the field Tuesday and it wasn’t particularly close. He essentially won every ball thrown his way. He beat Lions defensive backs twice in the back of the end zone for touchdowns, making impressive catches in traffic and getting two feet in bounds on both reps versus defensive starters. He beat Jerry Jacobs deep on the outside for a long gain. He won on quick-outs for TDs. He did damage over the middle. He did it all.

Perhaps his most notable rep was one that wouldn’t register unless you know how St. Brown is wired. On a play in the red zone, St. Brown caught a short pass over the middle and was quickly wrapped up by Will Harris. It went for a minimal gain. But the two fought on the ground for possession of the football. St. Brown was relentless and continued to tug away at the ball, rolling around until he yanked it away from Harris’ clutches. He then emerged from the ground and ran toward the end zone until he crossed the goal line, despite the play being over. All Harris could do was laugh at his teammate’s ferocity.

This is St. Brown to a T. He loves this sport perhaps more than anyone else on the team, and it shows in everything he does. Ahead of the most anticipated season of his young career, the Lions are happy he’s on their side.

.@amonra_stbrown was all over the field today pic.twitter.com/wfttmA3sLi

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) July 25, 2023

Late Monday evening, reports surfaced that the Lions had spent the day hosting free-agent QB Teddy Bridgewater.

The news wasn’t necessarily surprising. The Lions were linked to Bridgewater before the draft, then went out and selected Hendon Hooker in the third round. At that point, it was unclear how much interest remained. As we now know, it’s mutual.

“We’ve kept in touch with Teddy, and we’ve kept Nate (Sudfeld) abreast about that, too. … It was a good visit. We’ll see where it goes,” said Dan Campbell, who added that the visit gave the quarterback a chance to sit down face-to-face with the head coach, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, quarterbacks coach Mark Brunell and GM Brad Holmes.

Adding Bridgewater would make for an intriguing quarterback room. Jared Goff is obviously at the top. Bridgewater would likely be QB2 given his familiarity with Campbell from their time in New Orleans. Sudfeld, though, has looked extremely sharp running the second-team offense. Would Bridgewater make Sudfeld expendable, or would the Lions roster all three veterans if Hooker enters the season on the non-football injury list?

Those are questions for down the road. But in the meantime, the Lions investing in their QB room as much as they have this offseason suggests a turning point. Through two years, the backup battle had been a mess. You had to squint to find a capable No. 2 between David Blough and Tim Boyle. But in a year in which expectations are real, it’s no coincidence things have gotten more serious.

Coach Campbell talks about the team’s visit with Teddy Bridgewater and adding competition to the QB room. pic.twitter.com/ZVEjEG3pwR

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) July 25, 2023

Offense dominates the defense

It’s starting to feel a bit like deja vu, watching the offense go against the defense. Because just like last year, the offense is ahead of its defensive counterpart.

Goff has been extremely sharp in practice, throwing more touchdowns than incompletions the past two days. His only mistake was an interception to Kerby Joseph on the final play of the day, but Joseph tends to do that.

During one series in the red zone, Goff threw three touchdowns in four plays: one to St. Brown in the back of the end zone, another to St. Brown as he rolled to his right and one to tight end Sam LaPorta, who has become a favorite target of Goff’s in training camp. The only play the offense didn’t score on during that specific series was a rush by David Montgomery. During the seven-on-seven period, Goff hit St. Brown twice for touchdowns and also found Tom Kennedy for three touchdowns in four plays.

Now, before everyone draws their own conclusions, a couple of notes: Last year, we weren’t sure if the secondary was bad or if the offense was good. Turns out the answer to both was “yes.” This is a legitimately good offense, one coming off a top-five finish in yards and points. They did this to opposing defenses for much of the 2022 season, so it doesn’t necessarily mean this Lions defense hasn’t improved. It’s not uncommon to see the offense ahead of the defense at this point in camp. Defensive linemen aren’t hitting QBs and the secondary is without two of its three notable free-agent additions at the moment. It’s Day 3, and we simply need to see more.

But Aaron Glenn wasn’t pleased with his unit. It will look to rebound Wednesday.

News, notes and observations

• C.J. Gardner-Johnson (knee) and Jameson Williams (leg) did not practice Tuesday, but both were spotted getting some work in away from the team. Campbell said Williams will likely miss a day or two of practice. Both are considered day-to-day.

Lions observations: Denzel Mims’ fresh start, C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s status and other news and notes from Monday’s practice https://t.co/4YWO9ZPI6x

— Colton Pouncy (@colton_pouncy) July 24, 2023

• Alim McNeill and Isaiah Buggs have worked primarily with the first-team defense, but what about their backups? Christian Covington and Brodric Martin have received plenty of reps. They’re not going all out yet since players are still in shorts, but we’ll be watching when the pads go on. Martin in particular.

• We had our first notable fight of camp. If I gave you 10 chances to guess the two players involved, you’d go 0-for-2. The culprits were UDFA cornerback Starling Thomas V and veteran reserve offensive lineman Germain Ifedi. It happened quickly, but it looked like Ifedi was out in space as lead blocker and Thomas was in his way. The two engaged after the play, shoving and wrestling to the ground before it was broken up by Glenn and Antwaan Randle El. For those keeping track at home: Thomas weighs 194 pounds; Ifedi weighs 338 pounds.

• Campbell said the Lions will let Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Graham Glasgow battle it out for the starting right guard job. On Sunday, Glasgow was mostly with the ones, while Vaitai was rolling with the twos. On Monday, that order flipped.

• I asked Montgomery for his first impressions of Ben Johnson. He said: “Oh, yeah, he’s a genius. Knows a lot, teaching me a lot. I’ve only been in for a short period of time, but I’m learning so much about defenses that I hadn’t known — me being in the league for four years — that I’m learning now. Real smart guy. Definitely lucky to be able to be in his offense.”

• Center Frank Ragnow, who’s dealt with a nagging toe injury he called “inoperable” this offseason, said he felt some of the discussion about his toe was blown a bit out of proportion. He made it clear that he’s feeling good both mentally and physically, which is good news for an offensive line trying to stay healthy.

• Jack Campbell began at least one team period with the first-team defense, which is a step in the right direction. The typical rotation has been Alex Anzalone and Derrick Barnes, but it looks like Campbell is starting to work himself into the mix a bit more.

• Lions DBs spent part of practice working on communication in coverage. They split into two groups, with defensive backs coach Brian Duker running one and cornerbacks coach Dre Bly running the other. There were typically two to three DBs and two to three “WRs” (DBs lining up as WRs for the drill) who would immediately cross paths at the line of scrimmage, forcing the DBs to pass off to their teammate. Nothing too crazy, but a good thing to work on.

• As the defense was getting torched in the red zone, one player who helped stopped the bleeding was Ifeatu Melifonwu. Matched up against LaPorta on a fade route in the end zone, Melifonwu won the rep and used his length to disrupt a throw from Sudfeld. A very strong rep.

• I’m trying my best not to write about LaPorta every day, but it’s hard not to when he looks as dialed in as he has. Not a day goes by when LaPorta doesn’t make a standout play. Tuesday’s featured a leaping grab on a ball from Goff that sailed just over Anzalone toward the right sideline for about a gain of 20. It feels like Goff targets No. 87 on just about every series, and LaPorta continues to be heavily involved with the first-team offense.

(Photo: Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

The Football 100, the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Pre-order it here.