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Amon-Ra St. Brown. The globe-trotting trilingual son of Mr Universe, named after an Egyptian god, returning for the most special of homecomings to his mother's native land. This time, as one of the stars of the NFL.
Some five years ago, St. Brown spoke to Sky Sports about the importance of his German heritage ahead of entering the NFL Draft. And now he gets to honour it by doing what he does best.
The Detroit Lions will play an international game for the first time since November 2015 this Sunday when they host the New England Patriots at Munich's Allianz Arena.
His mother Miriam hails from Leverkusen and predominantly spoke to the Lions wide receiver and his two brothers in German growing up, while also taking them back to Europe each summer to spend time with their grandparents and play soccer.
St Brown even represented the German national team alongside brother Osiris during his sophomore year of high school, and since landing in the NFL, has worn decals of the German flag on his helmet and returned to host football camps in the country.
St Brown sat his SATs in English, German and French, spent time in French academy Lycee International de Los Angeles, spent a semester in Paris and joined his mother in travelling across the world with trips to Spain, Italy, London, France, the Caribbean, his German home from home and beyond. It was his mother Miriam who revealed the Lions would be playing in Munich on a FaceTime call set up by the Lions back in February.
At long last, he gets to take centre stage overseas as the NFL reaches the final stop on its European tour with the eighth of a record nine international games in 2026.
St Brown brings one of the NFL's most fascinating backgrounds as a ready-made ambassador for the league's increasing global reach, which will be championed by way of its sixth regular-season matchup in Germany since 2022.
His own global connections travel as far as Egyptian nomenclature, after his father John - a three-time Mr World and two-time Mr Universe body-builder - named his son after Amun, the ancient Egyptian deity.
It is Germany the NFL can thank for one of its most gifted players, with St Brown's parents having met at a fitness trade show in Cologne in 1987.
His transatlantic ties have naturally forged a love of soccer as he pitches up in the home of Bayern Munich, where Ballon d'Or-winning England captain Harry Kane has often spoken of his own ambitions to step into the world of St. Brown - as an NFL kicker.
Has he got the leg to do it? Sure. Would it ever happen? Most would say no. Funnily enough, his age by the end of his football career - he is 33 now - is probably a primary reason above all as to why it wouldn't happen.
But will we take advantage of the opportunity to shoehorn Kane's name into a headline? Duh. Clicks pay for this writer's coffee (they don't).
"If I was going to do it, I would take it seriously. I would probably dedicate six months to a year to training," said Kane earlier this year. "Maybe if I am in the MLS in the future or somewhere like that it might be a thing where you could connect the two maybe with the seasons."
Regardless, the NFL's global ventures have often amounted to crossover collaboration between its travelling teams and the sporting giants hosting them; last week Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson caught up with Jude Bellingham ahead of their matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals at the Bernabeu, where the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Marc Cucurella and Raphael Varane were in attendance. As far as growing the game is concerned, it is a no-brainer of an easy win.
The Lions arrive 6-2 in a fiercely competitive NFC North, St. Brown continuing to be Jared Goff's prized weapon on the outside with a team-high 61 catches for 657 yards (10th most in the league) and five touchdowns within an offense ranked fifth in yards per game and fifth in scoring.
Detroit have won four straight games, including divisional victories over both the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers in the last three weeks. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs is also at the heart of their success with an NFL-high 1,132 yards and 11 touchdowns from scrimmage.
New England are 5-4 and coming off a 45-27 defeat to the Packers during which Drake Maye, struggling to live up to his MVP-contending heights of last season, threw three interceptions.
The Patriots are battling to swerve a Super Bowl hangover after February's one-sided defeat to the Seattle Seahawks and return to play in Germany for the second time after losing to the Indianapolis Colts in Frankfurt in 2023.
Germany remains one of the NFL's largest fanbases outside of North America, with millions of listeners having previously tuned in to the Armed Forces Network radio station based in Frankfurt during World War II.
The first broadcast out of AFN Frankfurt was on July 15, 1945 from a confiscated house, after which thousands of US troops remained stationed in Germany.
There were later five preseason NFL games in Germany from 1990 to 1994, while the country was also represented by the Hamburg Sea Devils, Rhein Fire, Berlin Thunder, Cologne Centurions and Frankfurt Galaxy in the former World League of American Football/NFL Europe/NFL Europa between 1991 and 2007.
It is Germany's time once again.
Is there another player in football who reigns as his position's outright No 1 more so than Fred Warner? Arguably not.
The San Francisco 49ers stalwart has occupied top spot among inside linebackers for multiple years now, and remains an unrivalled difference-maker from his role within Raheem Morris' defense.
Warner has been electric in his first campaign back since suffering a season-ending injury in Week Six of 2025, racking up 77 total tackles, five forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, half a sack, 5.5 stuffs and three pass breakups. Few, if any, diagnose the game better than Warner, whose film study is as refined and as expertly-exercised as any player in football.
An incredible sequence against the Las Vegas Raiders last week saw him punch the ball from the hands of Brock Bowers, recover Michael Mayers' fumble in the end zone and deny Kirk Cousins on a quarterback sneak with an incredible leaping stop over center Tyler Linderbaum in the space of about 10 minutes.
Wonder why teams are scared to throw over the middle of the field against the 49ers? Fred Warner.
The Minnesota Vikings would be Super Bowl contenders if they could just figure things out at quarterback, and on Tuesday they rolled the dice once more by trading to bring back Kirk Cousins.
Any scenario in which Justin Jefferson isn't getting the ball thrown his way becomes a major concern; the Vikings had no choice. Kyler Murray could not get it done, the Vikings traded away J.J. McCarthy to the New York Giants and on Monday night Carson Wentz epitomised this hobbling offense, which has failed miserably in its bid to back up Brian Flores' defense.
Cousins may be 38 years old, but has been impressive for the Las Vegas Raiders this season and gives Minnesota a significantly better chance of reigniting Jefferson, who has been starved of production.
Cousins is 202 of 315, passing for 2,340 yards, 20 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a passer rating of 97.1 as he re-joins the franchise he played for from 2018-2023. Would be quite the story, huh?
Jordan Love is flying, and it feels as though the Green Bay Packers are gathering Super Bowl momentum by the week as their offense begins to takeover.
Love now leads the NFL in passing yards with 2,618 for 19 touchdowns to six interceptions as the league's most aggressive splash-play merchant.
He ranks first in intended air yards (3,251), intended air yards per attempt (9.5) and completed air yards (1,553) at the heart of the league's second-best passing attack, within which his receivers have notably dropped a league-high 23 passes.
They have become box office viewing, with two No 1 receivers emerging in Christian Watson - third in the league with 879 yards - and Matthew Golden - fourth in the league with 783 yards.
Matt LaFleur has typically built his offense around run game foundations that he can tee off from through the air, but even through the NFL's worst rushing attack he is finding success thanks to Love's arm.
Sunday Night Football stages one of the biggest games of the weekend when the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in a possible AFC North division decider.
Both sit 6-2 with the Steelers holding the head-to-head advantage after their 30-27 win in the reverse fixture back in September, Jaylen Warren starring out of the backfield on that occasion with 176 yards from scrimmage.
But the Bengals have hit their stride with a four-game winning streak over the last month, Joe Burrow rising to MVP contention while playing some of the best football of his NFL career within the league's most potent passing attack.
Across that four-game span, Burrow has completed 77 per cent of passes for 1,215 yards with 18 total touchdowns, three interceptions and a 132.0 passer rating.
Cincinnati look like legitimate Super Bowl contenders again, producing their best start through eight games since 2015.
The 'super-team' Los Angeles Rams are not looking so super, and there is growing reason to be concerned over their playoff chances this season.
Sean McVay's side were dealt another crushing blow this week when it was revealed Puka Nacua had suffered a right knee injury set to land him on injured reserve and miss at least a month of action, adding to an absentee list already featuring Davante Adams.
Rams General Manager Les Snead is typically one of football's most aggressive dealers, but on Tuesday neglected to add receiver help for Matthew Stafford as they enter Sunday's divisional clash against the Arizona Cardinals 5-4.
McVay is known for his multiple tight end sets, and will now need to lean on as much alongside Kyren Williams and Blake Corum in order to keep this offense afloat
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