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Eric Woodyard, ESPN
ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Amon-Ra St. Brown wasn’t in the greatest mood after Thursday’s practice as he greeted the media outside of his locker room stall.
The Detroit Lions star wide receiver admitted to being “hot” that he wasn’t named to the Pro Bowl as an original selection.
Instead, Dallas‘ CeeDee Lamb, Tampa Bay‘s Mike Evans, Philadelphia‘s A.J. Brown and the Los Angeles Rams‘ Puka Nacua were the four receivers picked to represent the NFC in the Pro Bowl.
“The receivers that got picked, they’re great players, but I was hot,” St. Brown said.
St. Brown is enjoying a career-best season with eight 100-yard receiving games, which is tied with Lamb and Miami‘s Tyreek Hill for the most in the NFL.
He also has 112 receptions for 1,371 yards and 10 touchdowns this season for the Lions (11-5), who clinched their first division title since 1993.
St. Brown’s 112 receptions is tied with Hill for second in the NFL this season and is the third-most by a Lions player in a season, behind Herman Moore (123 in 1995) and Calvin Johnson (122 in 2012) with one regular-season game remaining.
“I guess I didn’t do enough during the season, so I’ve got to go harder,” St. Brown said.
Five of St. Brown’s Lions teammates were named to the Pro Bowl: tight end Sam LaPorta, center Frank Ragnow, defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, tackle Penei Sewell and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin (special teams).
Hutchinson described his first Pro Bowl selection as “amazing.”
“It means a lot. It was one of my goals coming into this year, and to be able to achieve that is great,” Hutchinson said. “But right now, I got all my focus really on this playoff run.”
As a first alternate, it’s highly likely that St. Brown — like last season, when he was called to replace Brown — could be added to the Pro Bowl, at least if the Lions fail to make a Super Bowl run.
However, the 2021 fourth-round pick, who can still name all 16 receivers who were drafted ahead of him at No. 112, feels he should’ve been an original selection. He considers this latest snub as fuel to the fire.
“Yeah, gotta go harder,” St. Brown said.