Stories of Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown's German upbringing - ESPN

DETROIT — When the Detroit Lions take the field to face the New England Patriots at Allianz Arena in Munich on Sunday, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will feel right at home.

For St. Brown, Germany is as much his home as the United States. It's where he and his family frequently took trips to visit his maternal grandparents. It's where St. Brown went to preschool (Die Rheinpiraten Kindergarten, to be exact), and where he and his older brothers, Equanimeous and Osiris, spent countless hours on bike tours and fishing trips with their grandfather, Helmut Steyer, who enjoyed entertaining his American-born grandsons.

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It's where Amon-Ra (and Osiris) was a standout for the country's under-19 national football team. It's where he has hosted football camps since becoming a pro in 2021. And it's where the Lions star was once asked by an uncle to stay in order to become a star in the other type of football.

«It's not strange to him. It's all familiar… everything,» St. Brown's mother, Miriam Brown, said. «Going to restaurants, everything is different but for him it's familiar.»

The deep connection and familiarity St. Brown has with the country is because of Miriam. Born and raised in Leverkusen, in western Germany, she instilled her German values into Amon-Ra and his brothers, who are all fluent in German.

Those values, and experiences, are a part of St. Brown's identity and have always been at the forefront of who he is. As a result, when the Lions face the Patriots in one of the country's most famous arenas (9:30 a.m. ET on Fox), St. Brown will be the headline act.