Dan Campbell Tells Amon-Ra St. Brown Where Lions Would Take Him in 2021 Redraft

The Detroit Lions selected Penei Sewell seventh overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.

If Dan Campbell could do that draft again knowing what he knows now, Detroit apparently would not wait very long before making its second pick.

During his appearance on the St. Brown Podcast , Campbell revealed just how highly he and general manager Brad Holmes viewed Amon-Ra St. Brown before Detroit eventually selected him 112th overall.

"Brad had already been full tilt into it. He was already talking about this receiver from USC that he'd been watching for two years, three years, whatever it was. He was already on you before I was."

That part matters. St. Brown did not become a classic fourth-round lottery ticket that Detroit stumbled into. Holmes had been studying him long before draft weekend.

What happened next was a calculated gamble on value.

Campbell Saw the Same Player Detroit Has Today

Campbell eventually dug into the film himself, and the characteristics that jumped out sound awfully familiar five years later.

"I just remember you were a freaking pit bull, man. You were at the college level what you are here. You get after dudes. You were the most physical receiver coming out that year."

Campbell was not merely talking about St. Brown throwing blocks.

"I'm not just talking about blocking. The blocking was big, but I'm talking about the way you separated at the top of routes, the way you broke out, your play speed. Your college play speed — the speed didn't matter. Your play speed was fast, and you were a football player. That was evident."

Detroit's original 2021 draft profile of St. Brown praised his route running, body control and ability to win contested catches. The Lions also knew the measurable that would make some teams hesitate. St. Brown ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash at his pro day.

Campbell clearly did not care much about the stopwatch.

The Lions Loved St. Brown but Played the Draft

This is where Campbell's explanation gets particularly interesting from a draft-strategy perspective.

Detroit liked the player. Holmes apparently liked him very early. Yet the Lions still waited until the fourth round.

"Brad and I were on you. He was on you first, but I loved you, man. We were on your ass. It was just about, when do we acquire you? When do we get the most value, bang for buck, and make sure we've got a chance to get you?"

Campbell followed with the sentence that essentially explains every draft room in America.

"You don't know how everything's going to turn out, but you know a football player when you see one."

The Lions eventually selected St. Brown at No. 112 , after 16 wide receivers had already come off the board. Detroit believed it had identified something other teams were undervaluing, then kept waiting because it believed St. Brown would remain available.

It also could have gone spectacularly wrong.

Then Amon-Ra asked the question that really mattered.

Knowing everything Detroit knows now, how long would Campbell have waited in a 2021 redraft?

"Had we truly known then what we know now, we'd have traded up right behind Penei and drafted your ass."

Campbell did not specify an exact selection, so there is no reason to pretend he literally announced St. Brown as the No. 8 pick in a hypothetical redraft. The meaning is still unmistakable: Detroit would take Sewell, then immediately begin trying to get St. Brown.

And hindsight has made the case easy. St. Brown has developed into one of Detroit's defining players and is now a four-time team captain. When the Lions announced their seven captains for 2026 , St. Brown already ranked first in franchise history through a player's first five Lions seasons in receptions, receiving yards and 100-yard games.

Brad Holmes' Evaluation Looks Better With Time

The fun part of Campbell's story is the imaginary redraft.

The more important part is what it says about Holmes.

St. Brown's production makes it easy now to say everybody should have drafted him higher. That is hindsight doing what hindsight does. Holmes was apparently pounding the table before any of those NFL receptions existed.

Detroit then had to answer a much more difficult question: How long can we wait without losing him?

St. Brown's physicality remains one of the traits that separates him, and new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing recently said the receiver's leadership, intensity and physicality had "blown me away" .

Five years later, Campbell is still describing essentially the same player he saw on USC film.

Detroit just did not fully understand how good that player was going to become.