Amon-Ra St. Brown ankle injury: Medical breakdown & updated prognosis

Lions fans, along with many fantasy football fans, were highly concerned when All-Pro WR Amon-Ra St. Brown went down on Thanksgiving. Here's the breakdown of his injury as well as an updated prognosis.

Mechanism of injury (Nov 27, 2025 - 1st quarter 6:19)

St. Brown is rolled up on. The actual injury was partially obscured on video, but some educated guesses could be made. He was immediately reaching for the right ankle area and medical was seen examining the right ankle on the field.

Most of the time when a player is rolled up on, it is from the outside-in due to simple physics and probabilities. Getting rolled up on from inside-out means the outside leg needs to be somehow avoided. That's exactly what looked like happened in this case.

St. Brown's legs are spread and staggered which gives just enough room for Trystan Colon to roll up on the inside of the right ankle. Getting rolled up on can also injure the knees, but on video, it appears the knees were spared.

Getting rolled up on typically cases an eversion injury which puts a player's ankle at risk for a high ankle or medial ankle sprain. Since St. Brown had the unusual situation of getting rolled up on from the inside, he more likely had an inversion injury which typically causes a low ankle sprain. Thus, the suspected diagnosis on video was a right low ankle sprain.

Diagnosis - Right low ankle sprain

The diagnosis of a low ankle sprain was confirmed the next day.

Prognosis

There was good news immediately after the injury as St. Brown was able to bear weight right away and walk unassisted to the locker room. This ability to bear weight significantly decreased the likelihood of a fracture.

X-ray and MRI afterwards confirmed that there was no fracture.

A low ankle sprain usually has a better prognosis and return-to-play timeline than a high ankle sprain.

For example, two years ago, David Montgomery returned to play in the same game after a suspected low ankle sprain. Severity matters of course.

In 2022, St. Brown suffered a suspected high ankle sprain. He ended up missing 1 game and his productivity was markedly limited for about a month. We should be able to expect a better outcome with his current low ankle sprain.

Return-to-play expectations

Playing next Thursday vs the Cowboys is definitely possible given the favorable (almost best-case) outcome of a low ankle sprain. If he doesn't play vs the Cowboys, the Lions have a mini-bye (10 days) before the next game vs the Rams. Thus, he would very likely be available for the Rams game.

Like with any injury, return timeline will depend on severity as well as how fast it heals. Return-to-play also typically depends on importance of player to the team and importance of the game. But in this case, neither of those issues are in doubt. The Lions very likely need to beat the Cowboys to have a chance at making the playoffs.

What increases the chances of an early return is that St. Brown plays offense as opposed to defense. This allows him to set up his steps to compensate for a weakened right ankle as he runs his routes. A defensive back would not have the ability to do that.

When he returns, he will have decreased ability to cut off his right leg and turn left. Thus, we may see more routes that have him cutting to his right.

The final upshot is good news for St. Brown and Lions fans as the injury is nothing long-term and he has a good chance to be available very soon.

This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Amon-Ra St. Brown ankle injury: Medical breakdown & updated prognosis