Benjamin St-Juste knew what was coming. It was third down with about two minutes left in the fourth quarter, and the Minnesota Vikings stood at Washington’s four-yard line with a chance to win the game. Justin Jefferson, their two-time Pro Bowl receiver, split out wide beyond the numbers and ran a quick double-move before breaking to the outside.
Whatever the Commanders need, Benjamin St-Juste has got it covered
The Vikings ran a similar play near midfield earlier in the game, and St-Juste had prepared for this specific situation months ago. So the second-year cornerback played it just as he remembered. Using inside leverage, St-Juste forced Jefferson toward the back corner of the end zone on a fade route.
“At 6-3, I’ll take those jump balls,” St-Juste said. “I’d rather give up the outside release than the inside release because I can always make it up.”
And he did. Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins lobbed the ball to Jefferson’s back shoulder, but St-Juste leaped to tip it out of his reach, thwarting what would’ve been a winning touchdown.
“Just playing the bottom hip and playing through the hands,” said Aire Justin, a defensive backs coach who works with St-Juste in the offseasons. “We worked on that exact same situation this offseason, and he was able to execute it perfectly in a critical moment of a game against one of the best receivers in the league.”
Earlier in the game, which Washington lost on a last-second field goal, St-Juste deflected another pass intended for Jefferson in the end zone that was intercepted by teammate Danny Johnson, and in the fourth quarter, he blitzed and notched his first career sack.
“I love those opportunities,” he said Sunday evening at FedEx Field. “ … Jefferson is probably in the top five in the league right now, so the fact that I’m able to go toe-to-toe with him the whole game and follow him — I knew it was going to be a dogfight. I knew he was going to make some plays, so I just had to keep my head up and my chest up and come back and make some.”
After a strong showing in training camp as the Commanders’ new slot corner, St-Juste has so far proven to be much more this season. His consistent improvement and attention to detail have seen him now often tasked with covering an opponent’s leading wideout.
Since Week 6, when the Commanders benched veteran William Jackson III (whom they later traded to Pittsburgh), St-Juste has been a full-time starter at cornerback, and his versatility has been a boon to a defense predicated on position flexibility.
“We saw growth and we moved him inside and didn’t bat an eye,” defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio said. “Really learned a lot. Now we moved him outside. Again, he just kind of goes about his business doesn’t say a whole lot. He’s very professional and works the right way.”
Washington drafted St-Juste in the third round in 2021, believing his size (6-3, 202 pounds), length (78 ⅝-inch wingspan), speed (4.5-second 40-yard dash at his pro day) and quickness (6.63-second three-cone drill) were traits that can’t be taught.
“He had the fastest three-cone drill of all the DBs at the combine, which is rare,” defensive backs coach Chris Harris said in June. “It’s rare and it’s even [rarer] for a guy at 6-foot-3 to have the quickness that he has, so that’s a plus.”
What St-Juste lacked, however, was the fanfare of a corner his size, and the mileage. The Montreal native was the No. 1 high school prospect out of Quebec, but played sparingly on defense his first two seasons at Michigan. After transferring to Minnesota, he started two seasons and notched 45 tackles and 10 pass-breakups to tie a team-high in 2019. He skipped his final season of eligibility to turn professional.
Concussions kept St-Juste’s potential in the training room for much of his rookie season. He was placed on injured reserve in early December, having started only three games.
When he returned to Ashburn in the spring, the plan was to move him into slot coverage, typically a starting role in Washington’s base defense, which features five defensive backs.
Though St-Juste was fairly polished coming out of college, he used the offseason to refine his technique and dive deeper into film studies to become a well-versed defensive back who can handle multiple spots in the secondary.
St-Juste spent weeks with Justin in Los Angeles emphasizing, among other things, press coverage. St-Juste already had speed and lateral quickness, so developing sound press-man technique was an opportunity to stand out. Some can learn, but not all can execute it.
“If you can play man, it separates you from the rest of the pack,” Justin said. “So, just understanding his full responsibility within man coverage, which is maintaining your leverage, controlling your cushion and eye discipline, was something that we made sure we focused on.”
St-Juste started the season covering the slot, as planned, and nearly picked off Lions quarterback Jared Goff in Week 2 for his first career interception. The reps helped sharpen his view of the secondary as a whole.
“I think it helps a lot because you have a better understanding of just where everybody’s going to be,” said veteran corner Kendall Fuller, who spent the first four seasons of his career primarily in the slot. “As a nickel, you work with your safeties a lot from a different aspect, or different angle, than working with your safeties as a corner. Just having a feel and understanding of where everybody’s supposed to be and where your help is and things like that, it allows you to play faster and help make plays.”
This season St-Juste has played roughly 61 percent of his snaps outside and 31 percent in the slot, accordion to Pro Football Focus, giving the Commanders a rare weapon: A tall corner who has the speed to match up with No. 1 receivers, the awareness to play inside and the experience to play both interchangeably.
St-Juste shifted outside as Jackson nursed a back injury in Week 3 against the Eagles and, with a career-high three passes defended, impressed enough to warrant another opportunity. By Week 6, he was the full-time starter at corner.
His 52-percent reception rate in coverage is the best among Washington’s defensive backs, while his seven forced incompletions and six pass-breakups are the most on the team and rank among the top 10 corners in the league (minimum 300 coverage snaps), per PFF.
And Cousins learned just how impactful St-Juste’s speed makes him as a blitzer off the edge.
“A lot of times you see big corners and they are not as aggressive at the line as they could be, this guy utilizes his length at the line of scrimmage, quick trigger against the run,” Commanders General Manager Martin Mayhew said in 2021. “He brings a lot to the table as far as his skill-set and overall size, so our defensive coaches were very convinced about him and very excited about him to join us.”
But perhaps St-Juste’s greatest skill as a young defensive back is his coachability, and desire to learn. Still prone to the occasional misread and penalties in coverage, St-Juste said he has spent hours on his iPad reviewing tape and regularly picks the brains of more experienced players.
Last Sunday, he was flagged for pass interference on a third-down catch by Jefferson, a call Rivera still disputes. St-Juste, however, remembers immediately switching his focus.
“Next play. Next play,” he said. “By the time you start thinking, ‘Oh, what can I do?’ Boom. They’re gonna hit you with the next play. I forgot about that play and got me a sack.”
Source: WP
