Qwan’tez Stiggers already was one of the crucial inconceivable tales of this yr’s draft, and his profession narrative may very well be getting even higher.
Robert Saleh stated Saturday that he has seen sufficient of the 2024 fifth-round decide in coaching camp to consider that Stiggers — who was found out of the CFL after not even enjoying faculty soccer — is “undoubtedly” an NFL-caliber cornerback, and “now we’re attempting to determine whether or not or not he’s a beginning NFL nook.”
The Jets’ protection, after all, already boasts maybe the highest beginning cornerback tandem within the league with two-time All-Professional Sauce Gardner and D.J. Reed, who many consider additionally ought to have been named to the Professional Bowl final season.
However there’s loads of enjoying time accessible within the secondary in nickel and dime packages and on particular groups, and the 22-year-old Stiggers has opened some eyes within the first 10 days of coaching camp in Florham Park.
“We’re happy with him, for positive,” Saleh stated “I feel he’s simply received nice endurance on the line of scrimmage. He’s very sensible. Not book-smart, however simply so instinctive forward of his years almost about route recognition and understanding ideas.
“He’s one other one which we’re all wanting ahead to seeing towards different opponents as a result of we expect he’s received an opportunity to be fairly rattling good.”
The notion that the Georgia native will get alternatives to indicate extra to the teaching workers in preseason video games — starting Saturday towards the Commanders — wouldn’t have appeared attainable a few years in the past.
Stiggers was slated to attend Division II Lane Faculty in Tennessee in 2020, however his freshman season was canceled attributable to COVID.
When his father Rayves Harrison died in September of that yr — after being in a coma for seven months following a automotive accident — Stiggers put college and soccer on maintain to work varied jobs to assist his household and his mom, Kwanna.
A subsequent stint enjoying within the seven-on-seven Fan Managed Soccer semi-pro league, nevertheless, finally led to a deal in Canada.
Stiggers’ 5 interceptions as a CFL rookie for the Toronto Argonauts final season earned him an invitation to the East-West sport and put him on the Jets’ radar for draft day.
He clicked in interviews with cornerbacks coach Tony Oden, and the group spent its third fifth-round choice (176th total) on him, making Stiggers solely the third participant chosen within the frequent draft period (since 1967) with out attending faculty.
He famous that his hometown Falcons had been “not likely” inquisitive about drafting him, “however they gonna pay.”
“The loopy half about it’s April 15, Coach T.O. [Oden] despatched me a [photoshopped] image of me getting drafted by the Jets,” Stiggers stated Saturday. “Simply to have the ability to get that image on the fifteenth and get drafted a few weeks later [on April 28], it was meant to be. A fairy story.”
Stiggers, listed as 6-foot and 197 kilos, spoke largely in superlatives when discussing his first NFL expertise.
He referred to as Saleh’s teaching workers “among the finest within the league” and the coaching workers “one of many best on this planet.”
He additionally dubbed Garrett Wilson “the most effective receiver within the league” and described working with Gardner and Reed and the remainder of the defensive backs as “the best room on this planet.”
“Actually, these guys are identical to our academics,” Stiggers stated of Gardner and Reed. “Like D.J. sits proper right here [on my left], Sauce sits proper right here [on my right]. I sit proper within the center. No matter they ask, I’m writing down, and I’m asking [them] questions.”
Stiggers seemed to be referred to as for cross interference on one play throughout Saturday’s green-and-white scrimmage, however he stated his teammates already are serving to him with that mentality.
“No matter they name, it’s ‘subsequent play,’ ” Stiggers stated. “Move interference, subsequent play. You’ll be able to’t actually give it some thought, the play that occurred earlier than, as a result of [if] you assume like that, then you’re at all times going to assume like that.
“And that’s what D.J. taught me as a result of, like, D.J. is among the finest corners within the league, if not the most effective. I see him quit a pair performs in observe, however he’s proper again to it. I’m simply growing that from him and maturing extra by being round him and Sauce.”
And Stiggers, who has made performs whereas being moved across the secondary all through camp, talked as if he plans to stay round alongside his new mentors.
“Proper right here, that is most likely among the finest groups within the NFL,” Stiggers added. “And we’re constructing one thing particular.”
