Amon-Ra St. Brown did not want to be drafted by Lions, but now glad it happened

The day after the news of a contract that will make him the highest-paid wide receiver in the NFL based on per year average in new money (for now), Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown took part in a couple events in the hours before the draft starts Thursday night.

He handed out free pizzas from Little Caesar's, then spoke at an event associated with USAA. St. Brown said he's going to officially sign his new deal in a few hours, and it took about three months to get the deal done. Alongside the Little Caesar's truck, he also said, unsurprisingly, he's "gotta go harder" after getting paid.

St. Brown's draft experience in 2021 is well-known at this point. He was the 17th wide receiver taken, and he carries that chip on his shoulder. He has also outproduced most of the 16 receivers that were drafted before him.

St. Brown obviously didn't think he'd fall to Day 3, but when he did he had a preference.

Amon-Ra St. Brown did not want the Lions to draft him, but he's grateful it worked out the way it did

Via SI.com, St. Brown talked about the run-up to when the Lions called him on Day 3 of the 2021 draft.

"Day three, I'm coming in. I go back to the house that we were having the party at. At the time, my brother (Equanimeous) is playing for the Packers," St. Brown said. "So I'm like, 'It would be dope if the Packers called me and I was playing for the Packers. Play with you, play with Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams.' I would learn so much, I told my brother, 'The one team I don't want to play for is Detroit'....."

"I'm sitting there and pretty early on I get a phone call," St. Brown said. "I'm like, 'Oh, hey.' I see a 313 area code, Detroit, Michigan at the top. I'm like, 'What the f**k.' But man, I wouldn't change it for the world. I'm glad the way it happened the way it did."

Sometimes things just work out the way they are supposed to. St. Brown was an ideal fit for the Lions, as Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell clearly saw him as someone who could become a symbol of the culture they wanted to build. He has been that and he has produced, probably better than initially expected on the production front, and he has been rewarded in kind with a lucrative multi-year deal.