Amon-Ra St. Brown played in every game last season for the Lions. He's played in every game but two in four years in the NFL. With the odometer climbing, his body needed a minor tune-up this offseason.
"I had a surgery on my knee after the season, just to clean some stuff up," St. Brown said Thursday after watching OTA's from the sidelines before the Lions broke for the summer. "Been rehabbing that, but should be good to go for training camp."
St. Brown was one of several veterans who was either sidelined or limited during OTA's, as the Lions err on the side of caution with many of their key players. He's coming off his second straight first-team All-Pro season. He's second in the NFL in catches the last two years, third in receiving yards and touchdowns.
The Lions are breaking in a new offensive coordinator in John Morton after three seasons under Ben Johnson, a process that St. Brown said has been reinvigorating for everyone involved.
"He’s been awesome," said St. Brown. "He’s been very receptive, we’ve been receptive of him. Just to be able to have a new face, a new voice, a new way of teaching, it's good for us I think. We’ve been so accustomed to certain things for so long that you kind of get used to it, and then when something new happens, it wakes you up and gets you ready. He’s done that for our offense. Definitely woken me up, having to learn new plays, new formations."
St. Brown said he was so well-versed in Johnson's playbook that he "didn’t even have to look at the play" before it was called because "I already knew what I had to do."
"Now I actually study up on some plays," he said with a laugh, "because I can’t be messing up out there. That’s the last thing I want to do. I think it’s good, though. It’s good for the offense, good for the guys, coaches, too, they gotta be on their toes because it’s different formations. So we all gotta lock in, but I think it’s gonna help us in the long run."
St. Brown said that "the nucleus" of the Lions' offense is the same as it was the past few years when it was one of the best in the league, with Morton adding his "own wrinkles and twists." Morton, who was an offensive assistant under Johnson in 2022, is taking over after spending the past two seasons as passing game coordinator for the Broncos, where he helped revive Russell Wilson's career in 2023 and launch that of Bo Nix in 2024.
"Johnny Mo had a way of doing things where he was from that worked for him, and he feels like we got guys on this team that can make that work, too, if not switch some things up and make it look even better," said St. Brown.
As for the Lions' goal as a team this season after going 15-2 last year but losing their first playoff game a year removed from a trip to the NFC title game, "For us, it’s Super Bowl or nothing," said St. Brown.
"At this point, that’s it," he said. "Obviously you gotta make the playoffs to win the Super Bowl, but that’s understood by everyone. We want to win the Super Bowl, plain and simple."