Football is family business for Equanimeous St. Brown | Saints Podcast Rewind

Former Packers and Bears wide receiver joins Saints looking to carve out role

Jul 08, 2024 at 11:00 AM

Andrew Lang

Saints wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown catches a pass during Saints Organized Team Activities on May 28, 2024.

For wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, football is a family business, one that created a "strong bond" between him, his brothers and his father.

St. Brown comes from a family full of athletes starting with his father John Brown, a three-time Mr. World winner and two-time Mr. Universe winner in body building, and continuing with his siblings Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and former Stanford wide receiver Osiris St. Brown.

"Growing up, it was cool because we all train together as a family," St. Brown said on the New Orleans Saints podcast earlier in the offseason.

St. Brown said his father was a "great dad" beyond just assistance with his athletic pursuits.

"He always taught us life lessons and he's always taught us to be disciplined, to go hard," St. Brown said. "And he's been on (us) since a young age. So, I really appreciate him for that. He's definitely a big part of why me and my brother made it this far and I hope to be half the dad he was."

Another thing St. Brown attributed to his father was his and his siblings' unique names. His full name is Equanimeous Tristan Imhotep J. St. Brown with his first name coming from the word equanimity which means means calm, level-headed and good under pressure, a characteristic St. Brown said represents him well.

"That has a lot to do with me being an older brother as well," he said. "I have to have more composure dealing with two younger brothers because they could lash out, but I couldn't at a young age because I was bigger and stronger."

St. Brown said his father wanted unique names for his children. As for adding the St. part to his last name, his father had a reason for that too.

"So my dad, when I was born, Brown was a slave name so he didn't want us to have anything to do with that," St. Brown said. "So, he just decided either between Vaughn Brown and St. Brown. And when we were born, he just put St. Brown on our birth certificate."

The oldest of the siblings at 27, St. Brown said he trains with his younger brother Amon-Ra in the offseason.

"Now that my younger brother is also in the league and we live right by each other, we can train together," he said. "So, it's good to have — and we're in the same position — so it's good to have a training partner to just keep you motivated, keep you disciplined and just make each other better."

Another thing St. Brown did alongside his brother Amon-Ra is host a youth football camp this offseason in Cologne, Germany. With their mother being German, the family traveled from their hometown of Anaheim, California, all the way to Germany often in their youth, only stopping as summer commitments for football began in high school, St. Brown said.

"Now that me and my brother are in the NFL and football is growing in Germany as well, I feel like it's a good idea to go out there and spread awareness on football," he said.

All three of the brothers started out playing as running backs in Pop-Warner football. St. Brown said he switched to quarterback as he got taller.

"Then, as I got to eighth grade, I told my dad I want to play receiver because I was looking at my build and I was like I feel like receiver is a fit for me in the NFL," St. Brown said.

He said his brothers who had remained as running backs up until that point decided to make the switch as well around their freshman or sophomore years of high school.

The 6-foot-5, 214-pounder played for Notre Dame appearing in 32 games with 25 starts in three seasons and recorded 92 receptions for 1,484 yards and 13 touchdowns before he was selected in the sixth round, 207th overall, of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers.

Equanimeous St. Brown joins the New Orleans Saints | Meet the Team Photos

New Orleans Saints announced that they have agreed to terms with free agent wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown on Friday, April 12, 2024. Check out Equanimeous in action with the Chicago Bears during his NFL career.

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St. Brown would spend his first four seasons with the Packers before joining the Chicago Bears, playing in 60 regular season games with 28 starts with career totals of 63 receptions for 928 yards with two touchdowns.

The wide receiver signed with the Saints on April 12 and said he was especially excited to play alongside quarterback Derek Carr, safety Tyrann Mathieu and his former teammate with the Packers, running back Jamaal Williams.

St. Brown said Saints quarterback coach Andrew Janocko, who was alongside St. Brown for two years with the Bears, reached out while he was a free agent to tell St. Brown he would be a good fit in New Orleans.

Brown said the team's positional needs played a part in him signing as he looks to play a part in the Saints wide receiver core that is only returning three players from the 2023 season, Chris Olave, Rashid Shaheed and A.T. Perry.

"Plus, the fact that people said they wanted me here, it felt like the right fit for me," St. Brown said.

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Football is family business for Equanimeous St. Brown | Saints Podcast Rewind

Former Packers and Bears wide receiver joins Saints looking to carve out role

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Equanimeous St. Brown joins the New Orleans Saints | Meet the Team Photos

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