Amon-Ra, Equanimeous St. Brown are different. But they have similar attitudes

Nature vs. nurture is among the most studied and debated conundrums. Which plays a greater role in our personality? Our work ethic? Even the general outcome of our lives? Not to get existential about a couple of football players, but it's a curious question when not one but two children in the same family grow up to reach the highest levels of their chosen industry. Were they born into that destiny? Or did external factors play a critical role?

Such is the case with the St. Brown brothers, Equanimeous and Amon-Ra, who are both NFL receivers and even share a division.

Equanimeous entered the league first. Drafted in the sixth round by the Green Bay Packers out of Notre Dame in 2018, the eldest St. Brown is already with his second team, now playing for the Chicago Bears. A big-bodied player, ‘Q,' as he's called around Halas Hall, is still trying to find where he fits in with Chicago's rotating receiving corps. He's shown flashes that the Bears like the looks of, but his struggle with consistency has made it a fight to get into the Bears' top four.

Amon-Ra, or ‘Saint' as the Lions' coaching staff calls him, followed three years later, drafted two rounds higher than his big brother by the Detroit Lions in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame's cross-country-rival, USC. He's been a pleasantly surprising breakout star for Detroit, currently leading his team in receiving yards despite fighting through injury earlier this season. He's on lists with Calvin Johnson in Detroit annals already and looks like he could become an offensive stalwart if the Lions can eventually find a franchise quarterback to throw him the ball.

But where the nature vs. nurture debate comes in is that their father, John Brown, who added in the ‘St.' for good measure once his children were born, is a former Mr. Universe winner. Both boys grew up with a healthy work ethic thanks to the training their father imparted on them. There were backyard scrimmages, family weight-room sessions and a borderline need to be great.

"You can tell it's influenced him," said Lions receivers coach Antwaan Randle El of Amon-Ra's at-home training. "Even from a workout standpoint. This dude is ripped.

"I call him a little Hulk … Like Marvel, for real."

OK, but does he have the accompanying anger?

"When he gets on the field," Randle El nods. "You know when they tell [the Hulk] it's time for you to get angry and his response is, ‘I'm always angry?' That's how Saint is. He's angry when he needs to be. But you can tell definitely like it's his brothers, his dad putting them through what he did in terms of training them and stuff like that at a young age and it shows up.

"For him, that was like ‘I got some people to prove wrong at the end of the day,' and he's been doing it thus far."

If Amon-Ra is The Hulk, Bears wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert says Equanimeous is Batman.

"Smart guy," Tolbert said. "No real superhero powers. He's not the biggest, not the strongest or the fastest. But he's smart and finds a way to get the job done all the time. And at the end of the day, he wins."

Fitting that Chicago has been used to represent Gotham City, too.

But maybe Superman would be a better fit for Amon-Ra, given the rivalry between him and Batman in the DC universe. Nature has given the two their competitive fire. Nurture has created chips on each of their shoulders.

"You can tell there's some competitive nature going on there, an ‘I got it better than you'," said Randle El. "At the same time, it's like ‘Good job, but you know I'll get you.' You could see that could be happening behind closed doors, for sure."

Nurture is also where the two show off the work ethic that's in their nature.

"He knew the value of hard work and how hard work will pay off and obviously, he worked really hard to get a scholarship at Notre Dame," said Bears wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert about Equanimeous. "And then coming here, he's one of the hardest workers on the field. We're grading loafs all the time and he and probably Dante Pettis, those two guys have the least amount of loafs. 

Tolbert also described ‘loafs' as different with this Chicago staff than they are almost everywhere else. It may be a common term but in the same sentiment as ‘if you're not early, you're late', the Bears give out loafs for not actively straining and giving obvious effort to getting to your spot, or releasing off the line, whatever a player's assignment is on that play. It's not enough to just get there; you have to look like you want to get there.

And how the two ‘get there' is a place where they converge. Their mannerisms seem in many ways to mirror each other. Preparing for the Packers in Week 9, the Lions were watching Green Bay's game against the Chicago Bears in Week 2. And there, on film, was Q.

Amon-Ra, in his best Leonardo DiCaprio impression, pointed at the screen in the film room as a ball sailed into Equanimeous' hands from quarterback Justin Fields.

"Oh, that's your brother, huh?" Randle El had smiled.

"[Equanimeous'] release at the line the other day that I saw you could tell, yeah, they're cut from the same cloth," El said. "The blocking and the strength and all that type of stuff you see show up, yeah, they're cut from the same cloth."

That cloth was in the stands on Sunday in Soldier Field as the St. Brown parents looked on. The fact that the boys play each other twice a year in the NFC North lets them pull double duty and watch both at once. And if you're wondering, yes, they do have split jerseys with "St. Brown" emblazoned on the back in two different blues.

The competition between the two is only between themselves. Their parents are, of course, equally proud of each. And while the brothers don't have any tangible bets on the games themselves, they do have a season-long wager: $1,000 to whoever's team ends up with the most wins. Just for good measure.

On Sunday, Amon-Ra once again led his team, catching 10 of 11 targets for 119 yards. Equanimeous was used a bit more sparingly — and creatively — finishing with two ‘rushes' for nine yards. Amon-Ra's team pulled off a thrilling finish as the Lions downed the Bears at their house 31-30. It was Amon-Ra who set up the go-ahead touchdown for Detroit too after a 13-yard catch put the Lions at Chicago's one-yard line.

Whether it was nature or nurture that brought the two to the height of their professions isn't something that's so easily defined. But family on a football field? That's special, regardless.

"Can't take anything for granted," Q said. "Especially having a family member in the NFL."

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.