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Snubbed from the Pro Bowl, Detroit Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown earns first-team NFL All-Pro
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- Snubbed from the Pro Bowl, Detroit Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown earns first-team NFL All-Pro
Snubbed as a Pro Bowl selection, Amon-Ra St. Brown got something even better Friday.
St. Brown and right tackle Penei Sewell were named first-team All-Pro selections by a panel of Associated Press voters, the first Detroit Lions to earn the award since cornerback Darius Slay and punt returner Jamal Agnew were first-team picks in 2017.
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St. Brown led the Lions and finished third in the NFL with 1,515 yards on a career-high 119 catches with 10 touchdowns this season. He was recently voted an alternate to the NFC Pro Bowl team , behind receivers CeeDee Lamb ( Dallas Cowboys ), A.J. Brown ( Philadelphia Eagles ), Puka Nakua ( Los Angeles Rams ) and Mike Evans ( Tampa Bay Buccaneers ), and said he was "heated" over missing out on the team.
Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown runs against Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland during the first half at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023.
Lamb and Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins were the other first-team All-Pro picks at receiver, and three Lions were picked for the second-team: Center Frank Ragnow , tight end Sam LaPorta and special teamer Jalen Reeves-Maybin .
Brown, Nacua and Evans were second-team All-Pro selections.
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"Obviously, very proud of those guys and well deserved, well deserving for all of them," Lions coach Dan Campbell said Friday. "Look, it's all part of progress with where we're at. And those guys are playing top-notch football, but we're also improving as a football team and I think all that stuff goes hand-in-hand. You begin to get noticed, recognized, people see the production that you have on a winning team and it makes a difference."
The Lions (12-5) tied their franchise record for most wins in a regular season this year and will host their first playoff game since January of 1994 on Sunday at Ford Field.
More: Dan Campbell understands why anticipation for Lions game is cut with touch of dread
Detroit Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell (58) warms up before the Dallas Cowboys game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2023.
Sewell joins Lomas Brown as the only Lions offensive linemen to be first-team All-Pro, and St. Brown is the third receiver in franchise history to be selected for the award along with Calvin Johnson and Herman Moore. Both Johnson and Moore were three-time first-team All-Pro selections; Brown was a first-team pick in 1995.
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Sewell and St. Brown, first- and fourth-round picks in 2021, are the first Lions draftmates to be named first-team All-Pro since the 1958 class of Alex Karras and Wayne Walker.
LaPorta finished second on the Lions with 86 catches for 889 yards this season. He set an NFL record for most receptions by a rookie tight end and is a candidate for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers was All-Pro first-team at tight end.
Ragnow, who earned second-team honors for the second time in his career, was runner-up to the Philadelphia Eagles' Jason Kelce at center, and Reeves-Maybin, who tied for the NFL lead in special teams tackles, was picked behind former Lions safety Miles Killebrew , who had two blocked punts for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season.
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"It's one thing to be a great player on an average team," Campbell said. "It's different to be a great player on a great team. You can never lose sight of those things, and that's a whole nother talk when you get in the offseason, but it makes a difference. It makes a difference."
Dave Birkett is an All-Pro voter. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him @davebirkett .
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, RT Penei Sewell named first-team All-Pro
