Amon-Ra St. Brown Describes Draft Experience: 'I Was Always Pissed Off'
Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown understood he was not going to be selected early in the 2021 NFL Draft.
But, being selected by the Lions in the fourth round certainly has lit a fire under him.
The talented wideout recently appeared on the "Getcha Popcorn Ready with T.O. & Hatch" podcast, and expressed what his experience was like waiting to hear his name called.
Here is an excerpt from their nearly 45-minute podcast conversation.
Q: Were there any down times during that process?
Amon-Ra St. Brown: I would say the draft, for sure. Being an All-American, this, that and the other. Going to Mater Dei, USC, playing there. And then heading into the Draft, I knew I wasn’t gonna go first round. But second day I thought I was going for sure, you know, second, third round. I think the hardest part was having to wait the extra day. Because they do the draft, they do first round the first day, second day you’ve got second and third round and the rest of the rounds the third day. Having to sleep on not being drafted was, I think, tough.
Q: What was Day 2 of the draft like, not hearing your name called?
St. Brown: Two, three weeks before the Draft, the NFL reaches out, ‘Yeah, we want to set up a camera, this, that, the other in your house,’ because I didn’t go to the Draft obviously. (They) want to set up a camera, capture this moment when you get drafted and show it on TV. I was like, ‘Yeah, okay, cool, cool.’ They set it up. I had invited a bunch of people over for the second day, had a bunch of family and friends over, I would say 40 people at the house. So I’m just waiting there. I remember the second round went by, I’m like, ‘Damn, still haven’t heard my name called.’ I think there’s more than 32 picks in the third round, it gets a little bigger. I just remember seeing receivers, I remember receivers going before me. I’m like, ‘I’m better than him, I know I’m better than him.’ The last name gets called, I forget who it is, of the third round, day’s over. I just remember having to say bye to everyone, thank you for coming. Pissed off for sure. Just saying bye, going home. On my way home, I’m like, ‘There’s no way.’ So when I got to the house, got on the JUGS (machine), caught 202, bang, right before I went to sleep. Went to sleep, the third day was actually early in the morning, it’s like 9 a.m. (Pacific time). I woke up early and I was picked in like the first six or seven picks in the fourth round. So bang, I heard my name called. A lot of people say they’re happy when they get drafted, obviously I was happy I was drafted but, still, I wasn’t as happy as I wanted to be. It was like there was still something burning inside of me. I’m grateful obviously that the Detroit Lions drafted me, super excited. They took a chance on me, I couldn’t thank them for anything more, but I was always pissed off. Even to this day, it’s a day that I’ll never forget and those sixteen receivers, I can name all of them, where they went to school, all of that.
Q: Do you understand you needed that?
St. Brown: 100 percent, I think it helped me for sure.
