Welcome CB Benjamin St-Juste

[powderblueboy]

I haven't been following him. He's a big, physical corner who will help in run support.

Here's what Zeirlein wrote about him 4 years ago.
Overview


Intriguing cornerback with impressive measurables and a competitive spirit that shines through at the catch point and in run support. As a Canadian import with limited college experience at both Michigan and Minnesota, St-Juste is behind in terms of his feel and instincts. His route recognition is below average and his change of direction in coverage can be clunky, but those areas can improve with more experiences and technique work. He's a brute at the catch point, tilting contested catches in his favor, and he has some excellent tape as a tackler who finishes what he starts with form and strength. Finding the proper scheme fit will be important and a move to safety is a possibility. A team could see a noticeable improvement in his play within the first two years, but he's a developmental prospect with good upside at this juncture.

Boltsfromtheblue has a write up on him: https://www.boltsfromtheblue.com/202...roster%20prior.

[Whydachargers?]

I haven't been following him. He's a big, physical corner who will help in run support.

Here's what Zeirlein wrote about him 4 years ago.
Overview


Intriguing cornerback with impressive measurables and a competitive spirit that shines through at the catch point and in run support. As a Canadian import with limited college experience at both Michigan and Minnesota, St-Juste is behind in terms of his feel and instincts. His route recognition is below average and his change of direction in coverage can be clunky, but those areas can improve with more experiences and technique work. He's a brute at the catch point, tilting contested catches in his favor, and he has some excellent tape as a tackler who finishes what he starts with form and strength. Finding the proper scheme fit will be important and a move to safety is a possibility. A team could see a noticeable improvement in his play within the first two years, but he's a developmental prospect with good upside at this juncture.

Boltsfromtheblue has a write up on him: https://www.boltsfromtheblue.com/202...roster%20prior.

I like his size and athletic ability. I'll trust that Minter will get the most out of him and hopefully make him a decent cover guy. Otherwise he could be a good Safety it sounds like. I'm good with it. I like that Harbaugh is familiar with him from his college days.

[Steve]

Benjamin St-Juste and Jackson are both more physical than the players we have. They may just want to bring in some new guy to compete with Hart and Still, and keep becoming a more physical D. Plus, not only would it give us depth, it helps us move on from the Taylor and Leonard (Staley guys), or at least makes them more ST guys than regular D.

[richpjr]

Benjamin St-Juste and Jackson are both more physical than the players we have. They may just want to bring in some new guy to compete with Hart and Still, and keep becoming a more physical D. Plus, not only would it give us depth, it helps us move on from the Taylor and Leonard (Staley guys), or at least makes them more ST guys than regular D.

Hart's concussions make me think we need depth here, so I am not surprised we signed two of them.

[RTPbolt]

Cheap depth. Must be something they like about him….ST guy i imagine with Neimann gone.

[21&500]

benjamin-st-juste-played-college-ball-at-michigan-do-you-v0-dr3k40gk1coe1.jpg

[21&500]

#25 taken sir.
pick another.

[Eurobolt]

https://x.com/tomm1i/status/1899999999465054611?t=ULh5ECcMVflgUno6UNZ6tw&s=19

From comment section on X:

"I want the guy in this highlight!" Said Harbaugh

*Ortiz signs St-Juste*

"I meant the WR..." clarifies Harbaugh

*Ortiz also signs Mike Williams*

[DerwinBosa]

Cheap depth. Must be something they like about him….ST guy i imagine with Neimann gone.

From Popper's article this morning:

St-Juste played for Harbaugh for one season at Michigan in 2017 before transferring to Minnesota, so there is some familiarity there. This is an upside play on a big-bodied cornerback. St-Juste does not have much special teams experience. He only played 170 special teams snaps over four seasons in Washington. I do not see him as being a factor on Ryan Ficken’s special teams units. If he finds a role with the Chargers, it will be as an outside corner.

I will be fascinated to see how defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and defensive backs coach Steve Clinkscale use St-Juste’s skill set. They got impressive production out of rookie Cam Hart last season. Hart is another long corner at 6 foot 3. The Chargers were able to get more consistent coverage play out of Hart than he showed on video in college at Notre Dame.

Maybe he'll perform much better in Minter's defense.

[Heatmiser]

His play on the field backed up these horrible numbers (sometimes the ratings puzzle me but not with him). Yet the Redskins kept trotting him out there as a starter. I hope Clink has enough magic dust to turn him around but it might take the whole bag.

TG

[Steve]

Hart's concussions make me think we need depth here, so I am not surprised we signed two of them.

We need depth in the secondary no matter what Still and Hart are like. Even if we are perfectly happy and they both play 100% of the snaps for the next few years.

We play the majority of our defensive snaps in our nickel package, just like every other NFL team does. That has been true of every NFL team for the last 50 years. That makes the extra DB's who play the real 11th starter on D. The only exceptions to this are the few teams who play lots of extra dime package.

Then to be flexible, some teams will play nickel with 3 S (Big nickel) or sometimes 3 CB (little nickel). Same with Dime, only the combinations get more diverse. But you are only as flexible as you have good players to play those spots. Adding Jackson and St. Jude add some skills that allow Minter to be more flexible.

I like the idea of maybe having Jackson play like we did Molden, being more of a hybrid CB/deep S. Gilman does his best work up in the box, like Derwin. Last year Alohi was not as productive as he had been under Staley, because the only way to get Gilman in the box was to take Derwin out to play deep. Derwin can play deep S, but you don't want to take your best player out of his best spot (nickel) except as a change of pace. Now, we have an option to do that, only twice as much, with both Derwin and Alohi. But we couldn't until we had a player to match with Molden as the other deep S spot.

Most of the productive S in football are much better up close to the line. Now I think we can play more dime and play both of them (Derwin and Alohi) up close, with Molden and Jackson playing our 2 deep shell and Hart and Still at the outside CB. St. Jude is still depth, but we can bring him in when we need even more coverage help as a nickel CB or a dime replacing one of the S. It is just adding more pieces to Minter's toolbox. Also Jackson and St. Jude are both solid 3 deep look CB. I wouldn't take Still and Hart off for either Jackson or St. Jude, but they make us 2 deep at CB and still let us play with Gilman and James up close to the line to make plays.