The Saints had two clear needs in the WR room: A bigger-bodied guy and veteran presence. They'll get both with Equanimeous St. Brown.
The Saints announced the signing Friday morning of the former Packers draft pick from 2018, who also happens to be the older brother of Lions star WR Amon-Ra St. Brown.
"I can do everything on the field," St. Brown told reporters. "So I think all around I’m a solid player, a really good player and I’m gonna add value to the team, to the club.”
St. Brown follows a trend of this year's signings, particularly on offense, where the team has unearthed players that have either worked with new OC Klint Kubiak and/or quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko previously, or have worked in a similarly inspired offensive structure. St. Brown checks both of those boxes, having spent the 2023 season with the Bears along with Janocko as an assistant coach, as well as spending multiple seasons with the Packers in the Matt LaFleur offense, which comes from the same coaching tree.
St. Brown was a 6th round pick in 2018 and at 6-4, 214 pounds offers the ideal size that the team appears to need in its wide receiver room. That group is currently made up of returning players in Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed, A.T. Perry, along with recently signed Cedrick Wilson and Stanley Morgan.
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St. Brown said Janocko reached out to his agent directly to broach the idea of a reunion in New Orleans, and that he was told his ability to add a veteran presence was a selling point.
"Obviously they know I have history with this kind of scheme and they said that it also helps that I’m, you know, an older guy, a veteran because the receiver room is kind of young, or was kind of young," St. Brown said.
St. Brown's frame offers upside as a blocking receiver, an area the Saints were inconsistent a year ago, though his statistics won't blow anyone away. In his career he's caught 63 passes for 928 yards and two touchdowns, but he's never caught more than 21 passes in any year, something he did both in 2018 with the Packers and 2022 with the Bears.
St. Brown's signing was announced shortly after the signing of quarterback Kellen Mond, another former Kubiak player who can help install the new scheme.