Packers Draft Notre Dame WR Equanimeous St. Brown With Pick 207

With their final compensatory selection of the 2018 NFL Draft, the Packers selected Equanimeous St. Brown, a 6-5, 214 pound receiver from Notre Dame.

What we know about Equanimeous St. Brown

St. Brown is not a...typical...NFL prospect. Well, on the field he is, but his background is more than a little unique. Here’s the broad strokes from his NFL scouting report:

His father, John Brown, was a two-time Mr. Universe and three-time Mr. World as a weightlifter. His mother is from Germany. He lived in France for a short time as a youth and went to a French school while living in California.

Sports Illustrated gives a broader perspective on St. Brown’s family life, which is as interesting as you’d expect from a guy who lived abroad and has a professional bodybuilder as a father:

John was an art major at Cal State Fullerton who still works as an artist; one work of one of a gladiator with an eyeball for a head stabbing a tiger hangs upstairs. Since before he had kids he has been determined to pour his creative energy into his offspring: Whether sons or daughters, they would be premier athletes. When he met Miriam at a 1987 fitness trade show in Cologne, Germany, she held a degree in physical therapy and stood 5' 9". “You’ve got to fall in love with the right woman,” John says. “I can love a little woman as well as I can a tall one. You’ve got to get the right one that’s thick and strong.”

St. Brown’s athletic skill set is what you’d expect from someone who grew up in that sort of environment. He’s tall and fast, in keeping with the theme from the rest of the receivers drafted by the Packers this spring.

However, that size and speed resulted in surprisingly limited production while St. Brown was at Notre Dame. He topped out at 58 catches and 961 yards during his college years and only had three 100-yard games in his career.

How St. Brown helps the Packers

As the Packers did with running backs in 2017, so they’ve done with receivers in 2018. The thinking must be that at least one of their three draft picks might stick as a long term prospect.

St. Brown wasn’t an overwhelming prospect in college, but neither were J’Mon Moore or Marquez Valdes-Scantling. There’s really no reason any of them couldn’t be the one to make the leap, either in the sort or the long term.

Some have called St. Brown a Lonzo Ball-esque prospect, thanks to his bombastic father and unique training methods, and that analogy may be accurate. But it bears mentioning that Ball parlayed us non-traditional background into a legitimate NBA career, even though it may have been annoying along the way. Perhaps St. Brown can do the same thing.