The Sum God: How Amon-Ra St. Brown’s record WR deal affects other star wideouts

Carmen Vitali

NFC North Reporter

Amon-Ra St. Brown is no longer one of the most underrated receivers in the NFL. The man named after the Egyptian Sun God is now the highest paid.

Call him the Sum God.

On Wednesday, news broke of a four-year, $120 million extension with $77 million guaranteed for St. Brown to keep him in Detroit through 2027. In three seasons with the Lions, St. Brown has amassed 3,588 yards and 21 touchdowns with a career 73.4 percent catch rate. He had his best year in 2023, where he was named second-team All-Pro and garnered his second-straight Pro Bowl nod after catching 119 passes for 1,515 yards (third-most in the league) and 10 touchdowns.

His 608 receiving yards from the slot were the third-most in the league and he tied for first in touchdowns against zone coverage, according to Next Gen Stats.

While St. Brown’s new contract numbers might be eye-popping on a national level, no one in Detroit is batting an eye at making him the highest-paid receiver in the league. They know exactly how much St. Brown means to the Lions offense, shouldering a 29.1 percent target share in 2023. He’s also still young and hasn’t scratched the surface of his capabilities at the ripe age of 24. This was the biggest no-brainer decision for general manager Brad Holmes.

The Lions now have many of their offensive skill players under contract until at least 2025 with tight end Sam LaPorta on a rookie deal until 2026, running back Jahmyr Gibbs until 2027 and now St. Brown locked in until the same year.

St. Brown wasn’t the only star Lions player to get paid handsomely on Wednesday, with All-Pro OT Penei Sewell reportedly agreeing to a four-year, $112 million extension (with $85 million guaranteed) that makes him the NFL’s highest-paid offensive lineman.

Now all that’s left offensively is to figure out how much longer quarterback Jared Goff is sticking around. Goff becomes an unrestricted free agent after the 2024 season.

More than what St. Brown’s contract means for Detroit, it completely alters the wide receiver market around the NFL. St. Brown isn’t the only wideout due a large sum of money very soon. There’s another receiver in the division that’s waiting on his second contract, in fact. Justin Jefferson is entering the last year of his rookie deal with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024. He has expressed his desire to reset the market and become the highest-paid receiver in the NFL.

That price just went up.

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Jefferson is wholly justified in his expectations, too. He already has three Pro Bowl nods, an All-Pro and Offensive Player of the Year awards under his belt. Injury stopped him from adding any other hardware this past season and yet he still managed over 1,000 receiving yards in 10 games. Jefferson was always going to get a three in front of his contract number, but now the expectation may be well over the $30 million range.

Lucky for Jefferson, Minnesota still has cap space to play with. They have over $17 million left this year, according to Spotrac, and are projected to have the fifth-most cap space of any team next year.

Another player due a top-of-market contract isn’t so lucky.

The Dallas Cowboys owe CeeDee Lamb a new deal, and seeing as he’s by far and away their best offensive player, they have absolutely no leverage in the matter. What else is new? Lamb is also going to command over the $30 million mark. They don’t call these deals market resets for nothing. We might be in for the wide receiver market bubble to burst, but it isn’t happening any time soon and the Cowboys are running out of time to lock in their guy.

The problem in Dallas is that their best defensive player (Micah Parsons) is also due a new contract. Oh, and their quarterback (Dak Prescott), too (if they plan on keeping him).

There might indeed be a reckoning with the receiver market approaching that of quarterbacks. As we see offenses try to counter lighter and faster defenses with heavier personnel, perhaps we aren’t far off from diminishing the value of pure pass catchers in favor of running backs and tight ends who serve multiple purposes and present a variety of mismatches.

But progress (even cyclical) is slow in the NFL and these top receivers are still the most productive skill players on their team. Clubs would be foolish to let them go. St. Brown didn’t set the market to anywhere it wasn’t going to go anyway. He’s just the reality of what it takes to keep these top performers and the Lions aren’t the only team finding that out this offseason.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.