[2022 Draft/1-3] Derek Stingley Jr., CB, LSU

https://theathletic.com/4009498/2022/12/20/nfl-draft-2023-cornerbacks-scouting/

Last offseason, pre-draft debates raged over which prospects deserved to be atop the premier positions: quarterback, wide receiver, edge rusher, offensive tackle and cornerback. At corner, Ahmad Gardner and Derek Stingley Jr. stood effectively as equals, two near-perfect examples of what you’d like to have in a No. 1 prospect. I’d like to use that CB conversation from last year to reevaluate those two prospects — what I thought then against what I think today — and decipher what matters most in parsing a talented 2023 class of corners.

Let’s start with the potential Defensive Rookie of the Year. Sauce Gardner fits into Robert Saleh’s New York defense as a lockdown, bump-and run corner, which is an exact match to the way Cincinnati used him in a man-heavy scheme under former defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman (now Notre Dame’s head coach) and former head coach Luke Fickell (now with Wisconsin).

Gardner doesn’t travel with receivers often, but the Jets trust him to cover those elite playmakers. In Week 14, for example, Gardner lined up against Buffalo’s Stefon Diggs multiple times, and Josh Allen didn’t bother to look in his direction much, even when the coverage shell made it evident there would be one-on-one opportunities. In Week 15, on 38 pass attempts, Lions quarterback Jared Goff didn’t target Gardner at all.

Gardner has played with great patience and physicality at the line of scrimmage, and at the top of routes to stay in-phase throughout the entire route tree. He has even better ball skills in the NFL than I expected him to have at this age and leads the league in passes defended (16). He’s played like an All-Pro, essentially from the moment he put on a Jets jersey, and he’s on a trajectory that eventually could land him as the best cornerback in the NFL — possibly, while he’s still on his rookie contract.

I believed Stingley to be the more polished and versatile prospect headed into the draft (and I stand by my stance), but there’s something to be said for how Gardner has stepped into the league with a clearly overwhelming strength and leaned into it within the structure of the Jets’ defense.

Stingley, meanwhile, has missed the last month of football while nursing a pulled hamstring, but there’s enough tape from his first nine games to draw some early conclusions about his play. Lovie Smith and the Texans defensive staff have designed something unique in the secondary around Stingley (and rookie safety Jalen Pitre, for that matter).

Houston does its best to play matchup football: Stingley travels with the offense’s most dangerous perimeter threat, wherever they may align. Usually, you’d see an outside corner do that to play tight press coverage, even if they have help over the top. Houston, however, plays a majority of the game with off coverage and in softer zone shells. I’m still not sure it’s the best way to use Stingley, who was excellent in press coverage at LSU, but it’s been interesting to watch him play in a way that’s divorced from his standout traits.

In his nine appearances, Stingley exhibited smoothness in his hip transitions and, most importantly, showed a feel and understanding of a) the coverage scheme he was asked to execute and b) the route combinations he expected to see. He doesn’t get as many opportunities to play the ball as I would like in these zone looks, often on account of offenses attacking Houston’s linebackers and other interior defenders in the passing game, but he still had five pass breakups and an interception over his first two months.

Who knows how long the tenure will be for Smith’s regime in Houston, which has tied as many games as it’s won thus far (1-12-1). But if the next staff wants to run something more zone-heavy, Stingley should be prepared. I’d say Stingley is comfortably behind Gardner so far — and I may be willing to hear arguments for Tariq Woolen’s breakout campaign — but I still see Stingley as a true franchise-level cornerback with enough versatility to fit into any scheme.