The New York Jets boast one the NFL’s top defenses and have for the past few seasons. While they are stacked at all levels of the defense, one of the main reasons for their success is the secondary.
With a back half of the defense that not one, not two but three of the top 14 cornerbacks in the NFL according to PFF, teams have a hard time generating a sustained passing attack against New York. Between Sauce Gardner, D.J. Reed and Michael Carter II, the Jets can match up on the outside with any team’s wide receiver core.
But this could be the last run of that dominant trio. Both D.J. Reed and Michael Carter are slated to become unrestricted free agents after this season, and while Sauce is still under team control for at least two more seasons (provided they pick up his fifth-year option), he can start negotiating a new contract as early as next off season. Given how young and dominant he has been, it wouldn’t be a stretch to think the Jets will need to make him the highest paid cornerback ever to keep him in Gotham Green.
But that’s where Joe Douglas comes in. You don’t win championships by signing the best players. You can’t because of the salary cap. You win by replenishing your talent pool with draft picks and developing them. And the Jets may have a replacement on their team for one of their top three corners, and they got him from the least likely of places: the CFL.
Qwan’tez Stiggers, or “Qwan” as he likes to be called, was a relatively unknown at the NFL draft where the Jets took him with the 41st pick of the fifth round. Out of high school, Stiggers attended Lane College (Division II in Tennessee), but he returned home due to the stress of his father passing away in September 2020 from injuries suffered in a car accident. He started working to help provide for his family and left football behind.
we see ya rook 👀 @qwanb5stiggers pic.twitter.com/9Ib915HgfN
— New York Jets (@nyjets) June 12, 2024
In 2022, his mother got him back into football, but not college football. No schools were interested so she got him into the Fan Controlled Football league, a 7-on-7 indoor league in Atlanta where he was a defensive Player of the Year finalist despite being the youngest player in the league.
The following year, he joined the CFL where all he did was win the Most Outstanding Rookie Award starting 16 games, making 56 tackles and grabbing five interceptions. That’s when the Jets came calling. He joined 1991 first-round defensive tackle Eric Swann as the only Americans to nab draft spots without the college game.
While up until this point, it could be viewed as nothing more than a fascinating human-interest story, the reports from camp have been glowing about Stiggers. I even wrote about him as the Jets stand out in OTAs. He is exceling in coverage and might be the most loved player on the defense. Every time he makes a play, the entire unit celebrates and goes crazy.
So far, Stiggers has all the makings of a true ball hawk in the NFL. He is able to track the ball like a receiver and play it very well. He has all the athletic ability to make plays while the ball is in the air. What has been most impressive to me thus far is that he gets his head turned around on every throw. By getting his head turned, he has just as much right to the ball as the receiver and it will prevent him from being called for a lot of pass interference calls.
I could see the Jets working him in at free safety a lot during training camp because of his ability to locate and track the ball in the air. He could be an Ed Reed type of player if the Jets choose to play at safety. If the Jets decide to keep him at corner, he could be developed into an insurance policy of sorts if the Jets lose one or both corners next year.
It’s hard to not root for a guy who overcame every obstacle put in his path to reach the NFL. He's eager to learn and to soak up the knowledge that NFL success demands.
But that isn’t his only goal. In a recent interview, he indicated he would not cut his hair until he wins a Super Bowl. “We gonna get a Super Bowl this year,” Stiggers told Yahoo Sports. “I made a promise to myself: I’m not getting a haircut till I win the Super Bowl. If I got to be a caveman, I’ll be a caveman.”
Well, here’s to hoping the Jets need some clippers in February.
