Derek Stingley Jr. Profile: Why the Houston Texans drafted the cornerback in the 2022 NFL Draft
The Houston Texans picked Derek Stingley Jr. with the third pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
A local kid from Baton Rouge, this former Louisiana Gatorade Football Player of the Year was the number three overall recruit back in 2019 for his hometown LSU Tigers. Stingley came out as a freshman and was the best corner in all the SEC – if not the country – even though that conference is always stacked with talent at the position.
He intercepted six passes and deflected another 15 that year, which made him a consensus All-American, and he played a pivotal role en route to a national championship. He missed some time early on in 2020. Injuries followed him throughout the season, but Stingley was still named a second-team All-SEC contributor.
Then, this past season, a Lisfranc injury forced him to shut it down three games in, with zero passes defended, even though he did record a career-high 3.5 tackles for loss.
Derek Stingley Jr.'s strengths
Stingley is close to a perfect cornerback prospect when you look at the measurements and the athletic skill-set. He was already putting up numbers that would be elite for the combine at Nike’s 2018 Opening in Dallas. He played a ton of soft press for the Tigers, where he showed good patience off the line, not prematurely committing his hips.
He’s got the feet of a boxer and the loose lower body to incorporate any type of jams without allowing receivers to get to the edges of his frame. Stingley is physical without giving up free release on in-breaking routes, but his ability to turn, run and find the ball in the air, while engaged with a receiver is just breath-taking.
Unless your guy has actual track speed, Stingley will effortlessly carry him down the sideline on fade routes, if he even wants to settle for trail position, as guys almost run themselves into the sideline. Stingley is so damn good that he can get away with turning the wrong way, but then pivot back around and recover, to re-enter the picture in phenomenal fashion. He’s one of those guys who is so confident in his game that he is routinely peaking at the quarterback without losing his man.
Not only does Stingley have all the tools to absolutely blanket guys across the field, but he has that unreal ability to turn his head, along with the hand-eye coordination, to deal with passes that get there a split-second later.
When quarterbacks put air underneath the throw and it turns into a jump-ball, he displays the elite ball-skills and leaping ability to actually come down with it himself.
Stingley wasn’t put in a lot of off-zone coverage during his time at LSU, but he already showed some pretty advanced understanding for splits of receivers and which routes to expect. He had two phenomenal interceptions against Georgia in the SEC title game, once finding it at the last second on a go route and then undercutting a speed out from George Pickens, after motioning into a stack.
Stingley has a quick trigger against screens and short outs. And his 3.5 tackles for loss last season were a product of how aggressively he raced down once the ball got out to the flats. Stingley was blitzed off the edge when the opposing offense was on the hashes a few times and displayed impressive acceleration to gain ground on guys, who actually ran away from him.
Looking back at some of his practice footage as a freshman, Stingley locked up Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson routinely, before they both had All-American seasons and then became NFL superstars. Against Auburn’s Seth Williams, in particular, he seemed to really frustrate the big receiver, who, outside of one ridiculous sideline catch for 35 yards off a scramble heave, caught just one of the other six targets, and Stingley had an amazing toe-tap interception on a jump ball himself.
As much as there was made about Stingley’s game falling off, he only surrendered 158 yards (and one touchdowns) in seven games of 2020, and last year, trying to play through the Lisfranc didn’t help anybody, even though that long run-after-catch play by UCLA’s Kyle Philips, where his alignment put him in an unfavorable position and then he slipped off the tackle at the sideline was basically all he gave up in limited action (two more receptions for two yards).
Derek Stingley Jr.'s weaknesses
The hesitation to label Stingley as a true blue-chip prospect is obvious. It’s been a while since he was a truly dominant player, and we’ve seen Lisfranc injuries linger around, particularly for guys on the perimeter. On the field, we did see more advanced route-runners give Stingley a little bit of trouble by the way they set up routes. They got him to lean one direction or work in hesitation releases, such as slants after a double-up jab to the outside.
Former Florida Gator and now-L.A. Ram Van Jefferson hauled in all four of his targets for 51 total yards and a touchdown in their 2019 matchup. And obviously, DeVonta Smith cooked him on multiple occasions that year, as the only receiver to record for more than that against him, as the former Heisman trophy winner and now Philadelphia receiving record-holder went off for over 200 (although Stingley got caught looking over toward the sideline for some reason on a 65-yard TD).
That ability to trigger certain reactions off the line and turn late on back-shoulder fades were the two things opposing receivers were able to defeat him on. While those are technique-based, Stingley’s lack of willingness to come off his island, contribute in run-support and tackle guys in space is the one area of his game that isn’t a joy to watch, as he missed 17.6 percent of his career attempts.
Conclusion on Derek Stingley Jr.
Stingley were graded based purely on his 2019 season – during which time he was a true freshman – he would be the top cornerback that has been evaluated since Jalen Ramsey. If one were to watch the tape, one would see that it was like he and the guy he’s responsible for aren’t even part of the play for the most part.
Unfortunately, he didn’t quite look as good the season after and wasn’t very invested in the Tigers’ struggling program last year, while we don’t know for sure how long that foot may bother him.
With that being said, as an organization Stringley should let his medical staff evaluate that and if they give him the green light, there should be no issues with making this guy a top-five pick. It would be a shame to miss out on a generational talent like him. The combination of light feet, oily hips, length, strength, explosiveness, long speed and ball-skills are just unmatched.
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Also Checkout:- Derek Stingley Jr.'s Girlfriend
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