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No matter how many NFL Draft profiles and scouting reports you read in preparation for the 2023 NFL Draft, you’re bound to get something wrong. The draft is a crapshoot and even the most seasoned evaluators and scouts swing and miss on an annual basis.
And who better to remind us of this fact that Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown? In 2021, St. Brown was notoriously passed over on the first two days of the draft, allowing the Lions to snag him in the fourth round with the 112th overall pick. Since then, St. Brown has been one of the team’s best players and one of the most productive receivers in the NFL. Last year, St. Brown finished seventh in receptions and 11th in receiving yards, on the way to his first Pro Bowl.
Draft night continues to be a memory that motivates St. Brown. He has memorized all 16 receivers taken in front of him in the draft—and continues to follow their career compared to his own. When he is still occasionally asked about his draft night experience, you can tell the pain of that night still haunts him.
The NFL video department gave St. Brown the chance for a little revenge this offseason. In a short, hilarious video, St. Brown reads some of the pre-draft evaluations of him and reacts to them.
Some of the draft evaluations don’t even seem real. “Very little grit in his run blocking”????? That couldn’t have been further from the truth.
St. Brown’s reactions are hilarious, from, “I’ll let my tape do the talking,” to “Maybe you should ask Jared (Goff) about that.”
But here’s the thing: Early on, St. Brown utters, “That’s an interesting take from... ‘Joe The Expert.’”
But that draft evaluation wasn’t from some random guy named Joe The Expert. In fact, all of these draft evaluations came from one source: NFL.com’s own Lance Zierlein. You can read Zierlein’s draft profile of St. Brown here, and literally every single note that St. Brown reads is right there.
I suppose the NFL didn’t want to publicly throw their own guy under the bus here, but it just goes to show you that even some of the most well-respected analysts get it wrong. Or, as St. Brown concludes the video by saying:
“The fact is, no matter what anyone says or what happens to you during draft night, you control your own destiny.”
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