By Blessing 
A Counting Error Made Amon-Ra St. Brown Wear #14—And It’s Hilarious
At this point, it’s hard to imagine Amon-Ra St. Brown in anything but No. 14. The Detroit Lions wide receiver has made the number iconic during his breakout NFL career—even though it wasn’t his college number and, interestingly, wasn’t even the number he intended to wear in the pros.
As revealed in Season 2 of the Netflix docuseries Quarterback, St. Brown’s jersey number wasn’t a carefully chosen tribute or lucky charm. It was actually the result of a simple, hilarious mistake involving a miscount.
If you’re familiar with St. Brown’s story, you probably know he plays with a chip on his shoulder the size of Ford Field. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft—112th overall—he hasn’t forgotten the names of the receivers taken before him. In fact, he can still rattle off all of them, along with the colleges they attended.
Originally, St. Brown wanted his jersey to reflect that draft-day slight. He had the idea to wear the number matching how many receivers were picked ahead of him. But that’s where things took an unexpected turn.
As Brooklyn Adams, St. Brown’s girlfriend at the time, shared in conversation with Christen Harper (Jared Goff’s wife), she was the one responsible for the count.
“He’ll never admit this, but he asked me to count the amount of receivers (drafted) before him, and that was going to be his number, and I messed up. It’s not 14,” Adams confessed. “I told him it was 14, and so that’s why he’s 14.”
Turns out, the real number was 16—two more than Adams had counted. That number might’ve made for an awkward jersey choice, considering Lions quarterback Jared Goff has famously worn No. 16 his entire career.
“I should have chose 16 looking back on it,” St. Brown reflected on the show. “But I think Jared looks better in 16 than me.”
And so, through a charming twist of fate—and one slightly off headcount—St. Brown became No. 14. Not by design, but by a miscalculation that turned into a signature.