Amon-Ra St. Brown Dan Campbell play calling
St. Brown said that Campbell fed him the ball a lot more when he took over the play-calling duties in 2021.
Daron Payne got suspended, but Amon-Ra St. Brown didn’t escape his altercation with the Washington Commanders defensive tackle without punishment.
The NFL fined St. Brown $12,172 for striking Payne in the second quarter of the Detroit Lions’ 44-22 victory last week.
Payne posted video to his Instgram account of an exchange between him and St. Brown after a Jahmyr Gibbs run for no gain about 4 minutes into the second quarter.
Amon-Ra St Brown on the altercation between him & Daron Payne:
“Payne comes out and bumps me, I’m like what the f**k? So I hit him and he starts talking s**t. Then I hit him again, I accidentally hit him in the face…”
(via:@StBrownPodcast) pic.twitter.com/9e0irRfC09
— brandon (@JayDanielsMVP) November 12, 2025
Payne pushed St. Brown after a pile up on the field, and St. Brown responded by shoving the defensive tackle. Payne got in St. Brown’s face after the push, and St. Brown hit him in the facemask before an official stepped between the two.
Two plays later, after Gibbs ran for a 13-yard touchdown, Payne punched St. Brown as the Lions receiver was heading toward the bench area.
Payne was ejected and suspended one game for the incident. St. Brown was not penalized in the game.
St. Brown addressed the incident on his podcast this week and said he was surprised he was not penalized on the play.
“Payne comes out and he bumps me, I’m like, ‘What the (bleep),'” St. Brown said. “So I hit him and then he starts talking (expletive). And then I hit him again and I accidentally hit him in the face. I didn’t mean to jab him in the face, I just meant to push him off and I so happened to hit him in the face.”
Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.