GREEN BAY – Tyrod Taylor didn’t back up. So Benjamin St-Juste decided not to backpedal either. The Green Bay Packers cornerback kept his eyes fixed on the quarterback’s feet, a mandate sent to all corners in a meeting before this third day of camp, and St-Juste needed no time to put the pieces together.
It was third-and-7. Taylor, the veteran backup, was in shotgun. The play could have been designed either way, something deeper downfield well past the first-down marker, or a target right at the sticks. Taylor would need a drop back to chuck the football downfield. He didn’t drop back.
In that instant, St-Juste knew he needed to get himself to the sticks.
“As a quarterback,” St-Juste said, “you’re not taking the ball from the shotgun and going flat-footed and try to throw a deep ball. It’s pretty much impossible. So as soon as I see you open up and go flat-footed, I know you’re not going (deep).
“I didn’t take any ground or backpedal, and I just drove on the ball.”
Taylor couldn’t stop himself. By the time his pass arrived to the sideline, an out route intended for Savion Williams, St-Juste was on a dead sprint for the opposite end zone. He just needed to catch the football first in stride before taking it that direction, an emphatic introduction early in his first Packers camp.
It’s the type of play a cornerback dreams of making, and St-Juste is no different. He’s just learned the key is to want that play a little less. Don’t chase them. Better to pick your spots. In camp’s first two practices, St-Juste was frequently in the right position. He allowed some catches underneath, but the sixth-year veteran never got beat deep. No big plays. Eventually, St-Juste has learned, the football finds a corner.
That’s when a good corner needs to strike.
“Don’t get discouraged,” St-Juste said. “I didn’t see any action the first couple days of training camp. I was still in the right spot, but I wasn’t chasing the plays like, ‘Oh, I’m not making any plays.’ I just let it come to me, and finally the ball came. If I dropped the ball, then that’s on me, but I was able to catch it and capitalize on it.
“So, yeah, that’s it. The plays, let it come to you, and make the plays that you need to make within the defense.”
St-Juste uncovered that truth early in his career. When the Washington Commanders used a third-round pick on him in 2021, St-Juste looked at the league’s top corners that rookie season, and there was Dallas’ Trevon Diggs with 11 interceptions and an All-Pro selection. It didn’t take long for St-Juste to understand what got NFL corners paid.
He played a lot of snaps for Washington in the next couple of years, and the ball started to find him more. St-Juste defended 17 passes in 2023, fourth most in the league, but intercepted just one. Nobody had him on their All-Pro ballot, and the following season was St-Juste’s contract year. Time to get paid.
St-Juste said he changed his game in 2024. He started hunting interceptions, roaming the field rather than sticking within his defense’s structure, and it was a disaster. “I tried to fit the narrative,” St-Juste said, “that I needed to get more interceptions.” His production dropped to only seven pass breakups, none of them a pick. Instead of getting a second contract from the Commanders, he played his way out of Washington.
“I was trying to force plays sometimes,” St-Juste said. “Because I was trying to get that production. In this league, you’ve got to let the play come to you. You’ve got to do your film study, OK the play is about to come, and you’ve got to let it come to you. Because if you jump the play, the quarterback obviously isn’t going to throw it. So I had to learn that you can’t chase plays. You’ve got to let the plays come to you, and you might get one or two opportunities. Don’t try to get greedy and go get four or five. Now they run the double move on you or something else and score.
“You’ve got to take what they give you, and I had to learn that. You either grow from it or die from it. I think I grew from it last year learning it and getting better, and I’m just going to double down on it this year.”
St-Juste didn’t get much opportunity last season with the Los Angeles Chargers to show what he learned. Buried on a crowded cornerback depth chart, St-Juste’s 356 snaps weren’t just the fewest since his rookie season. They were less than half his snaps played in 2023 and 2024. “We just had some ballers for real,” St-Juste said. He still called it his best season. St-Juste defended seven passes, equaling his 2025 production. In October, he undercut a dig route against Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane, intercepting a pass to the middle of the field from Tua Tagovailoa.
Even with fewer snaps, St-Juste said he returned to the play style that made him a solid NFL starter early in his career. He was more patient, less erratic. A cornerback’s most important job is to prevent catches. It was enough for him to make life difficult on receivers, rather than chasing picks. The Packers must have noticed, because it’s the type of mindset they need to find in a second corner to pair with Keisean Nixon.
A competitive cover on the opposite perimeter would go a long way toward making this defense better.
Now St-Juste is on a defense with snaps available at his position. It’s a fresh start, but he’s taking the lesson of last season with him to Green Bay. Interceptions are the envy of any football player who backpedals for a living, but there’s a line that can’t be crossed. Or else the consequences can redefine a career.
“Don’t flip it the other way,” St-Juste said, “and put it in your head like this is the play, this will happen, this is what he’s going to run. I’m going to go jump it because I saw it on film. Now your technique is taking a back seat because you’re so greedy to try to make the play. Make sure your technique is right because the ball might not come your way. You’ve just got to make sure you do your job, and then when the ball comes your way, then you make the play. Not the other way around like, ‘Oh, I’m anticipating this play is coming, and then maybe it’s something else.’”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Green Bay Packers cornerback Benjamin St-Juste learns less is more
Reporting by Ryan Wood, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Packers News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ryan Wood, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
