DETROIT — Jared Goff pulls out his phone and looks for Amon-Ra St. Brown in his messages. He’s not hard to find. The two text often. During the offseason, they live 40 minutes from each other in Los Angeles and often meet for dinner at Sushi Bar Hermosa Beach, St. Brown’s favorite restaurant ever since Goff first took him there.
But Goff isn’t feeling like Omakase. He’s feeling like a workout. Goff hits send, asking St. Brown: Available?
For the Lions Pro Bowl quarterback, St. Brown's schedule is basically always wide open. And that’s how the All-Pro receiver is so often wide open in Detroit’s offense. Their connection is prolific. In the past four seasons, Goff has completed 457 passes to St. Brown for 3,952 yards and 39 touchdowns.
In NFL history, only three receivers have had four consecutive seasons of 100 receptions, 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns: Marvin Harrison Sr., Antonio Brown and Davante Adams.
"And he’s going to be the next one this year," Goff told me of St. Brown.
That’s in no small part because they’ve worked out together the past four offseasons, often at least once a week. The workout itself "may seem mundane," Goff told me. They run the same routes.
"You kind of do it with your eyes closed," the quarterback told me. "It's just the 10,000 rep rule. Whatever it is: 10,000 hours."
That repetition has given life to something more than an unspoken connection.
Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) and Jared Goff (16) have developed a special connection in their five years with the Detroit Lions. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
When you watch Goff and St. Brown on the field, you can see they’re finishing each other’s sentences — if every sentence was punctuated with a first down. It’s not normal. They can make changes mid-play without even having to look at each other.
"There's things [they do] where I'm like, 'Who's said that? Who's doing that?' And it's in the middle of the play, and they're both on the same page," said Scottie Montgomery, Detroit's receivers coach and associate head coach.
The duo's instinctive plays don't necessarily follow the scheme’s rules; it’s about feel.
"He already knows what I’m going to do," St. Brown told me about Goff. "Like a second into the play, he already knows what I'm doing. I know what I'm gonna do. It’s timing and rhythm. He’s not even thinking about what I’m going to do."
Their connection seems to be about absolute trust, brotherhood and, maybe, something stronger than words can express. They arrived in Detroit together in 2021. Goff, the No. 1 overall pick in 2016 by the Rams, came via a trade that he told me "for sure" put a chip on his shoulder. St. Brown arrived as a fourth-round pick from USC after leading the Pac-12 in receptions in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and he has closely followed the careers of the receivers who went above him.
They arrived in Detroit as the downtrodden. And it didn't get better right away, with that 2021 season ending 3-13-1 in coach Dan Campbell’s first year with the Lions. But in the halls at Ford Field, in the meeting rooms at the Meijer Performance Center, at Sushi Bar and on a practice field in L.A., they’ve built themselves back up.
"It's almost like you and your wife or you and your fiancée, your girlfriend," St. Brown told me. "Like you want to be better for her, she wants to be better for you. It makes a good couple. … We don't want to let each other down."
It’s crunch time for the Lions' offense. There’s heat — like, it’s literally hot outside. But you can also feel the frustration and urgency. Practice is not going how they wanted it to go — at least not for the offense. Big plays keep getting called back. Drives keep faltering.
If you’re thinking this is a metaphor for Detroit's 2025 season, then you’re onto something. Last year, the Lions thought they’d be hunting a Super Bowl, but they finished last in their division. It was a season of white-hot frustration.
When things get hard for the Lions, they go back to what’s most reliable: Goff and St. Brown. It’s a drive late during an August training camp practice, and the offense begins on the 25-yard line, just outside the red zone. Goff kicks things off with a 10-yard pass to St. Brown, because — why not?
Even on the practice field, Goff always has an eye out for his All-Pro receiver. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Not long after that, they’re at the 3-yard line. And it’s fourth down. Goff hits St. Brown on a slant route. Touchdown. It’s an easy route — made even easier by those offseason workouts. Still, they’re not done. Up next: a 2-point conversion. At the line of scrimmage before the play, Goff hits Brown with a hand signal that is so subtle that the receiver nearly misses it.
"I wasn't ready for it," St. Brown said. "It was super last minute, and I barely saw it."
St. Brown beats his man to the corner of the end zone, where the ball is waiting for him, where only he can catch it. In less than a minute, they’ve posted eight points. The ball placement is perfect, because Goff knows exactly where St. Brown is going to be — long before he gets there.
"I think we've been playing for so long together that he understands my body language when I'm running routes," St. Brown said. "That he can anticipate throws before I'm even out of the break. He kind of knows, ‘Oh, that's how it looks when he's about to break down.’ So he already knows. He can anticipate the throw."
That’s how the receiver thinks the QB perceives him. Now listen to how the QB thinks the receiver perceives him.