Little known DB may offer answers for Washington at both CB and safety

DB Benjamin St. Juste of the Minnesota Golden GophersGetty Images

I have to be honest; when I heard the name of Washington’s draft pick taken in the third round at #74 overall, I didn’t know who it was. I really know very little about new DB Benjamin St-Juste, but at 6'3" 202 pounds, he ran a 3.96-4.00 Short Shuttle! That is extremely athletic!

Part of the reason probably has to do with St-Juste’s college career. After playing in 3 games as a freshman at Michigan, he transferred to another Big 10 schoool – Minnesota – where he became a full time starter as a sophomore in 2019, following a redshirt year in 2018, but ultimately played just 5 games in his final college season due to a positive COVID test.

St-Juste, who will turn 24 years old near the start of his rookie season in the NFL, is a long-bodied cornerback who shows promise as both a boundary corner and, potentially, as a free safety. He has all of the extension skills and length that coaches look for, though he doesn’t possess great quickness or speed, which may be reasons for him to focus on the safety position as a pro. He will come to camp as a prospect who offers some of the “uncoachables” that doubtless led the Washington front office to draft him with their initial third-round pick.

As Tony Pauline said, “He possesses the size and skill to be used in a variety of systems and comes up with a large upside.” Ron Rivera is known to value positional versatility as a key trait for those who play for him. Asked about his focus on versatility, Ron Rivera said that it had been a part of his coaching philosophy since he worked as the defensive coordinator under head coach Norv Turner in San Diego in before he got the head coaching gig in Carolina in 2010.

Talking with reporters immediately after the draft, head coach Ron Rivera said that St-Juste does have the body and flexibility to play safety. For his part, St-Juste said that he will do whatever his new coaches need him to do, whether they want him to play slot corner, on the boundary, or line up at safety. He added that, though he has never trained as a safety, some NFL teams had wanted to see him there, so he played the position in the Senior Bowl.

A lot of my tape is at cornerback so that is how I am mostly being evaluated right now. But I did play some safety at the Senior Bowl, just like you said. I gave all 32 teams a little glimpse of my versatility. If they want me to play at safety in certain packages at the next level, I can handle that. I have the skill-set to move around. I can play nickel, strong safety, cornerback, or free safety. For me, versatility is clutch.

Obviously, the Washington scouts and coaches liked what they saw. But they weren’t alone. Ron Rivera said on Friday night that the team had received offers to trade out of the #74 position where they drafted St-Juste, but they decided to stay there and draft the former Golden Gopher DB. Right after the pick was announced, said coach Rivera, the team that had been trying to trade up to Washington’s spot called back and said, “That was our guy.”

If the coaches decide to keep him at cornerback, then St-Juste would fill a backup role behind boundary corners Kendall Fuller and William Jackson III. Fuller would likely move to the slot in nickel coverage, so it is unlikely that coaches will look for St-Juste to learn that role as a rookie. He is likely to be able to win a spot on the roster in competition with backups Danny Johnson, Greg Stroman, Darryl Roberts and others.

Related: Change from Ronald Darby to William Jackson III signals more aggressive defense for Washington Football in 2021

If coaches do ask St-Juste to play safety, it would be a new role for him, and he would likely be no higher than third on the depth chart behind Jeremy Reaves and Deshazor Everett. He may well have the opportunity, however, to grow into a starter role over the course of a season or two.

As a rookie, St-Juste will probably be seen as extremely versatile DB depth who will get on the field primarily in nickel and dime defensive packages, but his early third-round pedigree indicates that coaches see a future for him where he fills a starting role in 2022 or beyond.

Link: Pre-draft depth chart for the Washington Football Team

St-Juste grew up in Quebec, Canada, and his native language is French, though he says that he has always understood English pretty well. Obviously, after four years of studying and playing football at Big 10 schools, language is no issue for him.

With his shortened 2020 season, playing in the Senior Bowl was an important part of St-Juste’s pre-draft process, and he said he spoke with a number of teams, and that Washington stood out among them.

I met with every team at the Senior Bowl for 15-minute increments. That was great. I feel like there were certain teams that showed a little more interest in me. I noticed that throughout my meetings. They like my body type and my versatility. They showed a little more interest right off the bat. I could feel it.

He said that Washington was the only team where he got to talk to the head coach, position coach and special teams coach, which may say a lot about how interested Washington was in him as a draft prospect. Drafting him on Friday evening simply put the exclamation point on that interest.

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