Benjamin
St-Juste.
Benjamin
St-Juste.
Minnesota· 6'3"· 202 lb· 4.51s 40
"A 6'3" Minnesota corner whose length and press-man reps fit modern outside CB templates — a Round-3 tools bet with average ball production and only one full year as a starter."Pre-draft read
Benjamin St-Juste plays as a patient, press/zone outside corner whose game relies on his frame, spatial processing, and physicality. He plays with a tall, wide base that allows him to ride vertical routes without opening early, mirror through the stem with hip an jam, and squeeze back-shoulder throws. In zone coverage, he reads the quarterback's shoulder, drives from a flat pedal, and deflects passes.
He shows comfort with switch/banjo rules and fits the run from depth. His athletic ceiling is good but not elite; he carries vertical routes but loses ground to sudden route runners on quick outs and choice routes. His signature trait is the late-hand contest, where he stays glued through the break, times a rake or pass breakup, and turns a completion into an incompletion.
Best in a Cover-3 match or press-man system that values long, physical corners who can re-route and carry vertical threats and fit the run from depth.
Immediate special teams contributor and dime package CB, with long-term upside to be a starting outside corner in a match-heavy scheme.
Pure zone Cover-2 or off-man scheme that asks him to play with significant cushions and lacks opportunities for physical re-routes and run support.
A scheme-specific prospect, St-Juste's size, physicality, and football IQ make him an ideal fit for a press-heavy, Cover-3 match scheme, but his lack of top-end change-of-direction limits his appeal in systems requiring extensive off-man or quick-twitch redirection.
Benjamin St-Juste highlight reel
Washington-era highlight compilation — press-jam boundary work, contested-catch PBUs, and body-adjust reps at the sideline.
2021 NFL Draft Preview: Minnesota's Benjamin St-Juste
Pre-draft profile: Michigan-transfer path, Big Ten boundary tape, and the length-first athletic-profile summary.
GREATEST GAME WINNING TACKLES: Benjamin St-Juste does JUST ENOUGH on 4th & Goal
Signature career play — 4th-and-goal open-field tackle that decided a game, showcasing the willing run-support and body-mass profile.
Benjamin St-Juste projected as a mid-round outside corner whose value stemmed from a specific athletic profile and frame rather than extensive college production. His 6'3¼" height, 202 lb weight, and 32⅝" arm length promised the measurables needed to thrive in a press-man or Cover 3 scheme, providing a physical boundary presence.
He began his career at Michigan before transferring to Minnesota, where he played two seasons in a press-heavy system. Over 18 games at Minnesota, he recorded 59 tackles, but his college résumé was light on takeaways, with no interceptions and one forced fumble. This limited production, coupled with a documented history of hamstring injuries and concussions, raised questions about his long-term durability and on-field impact.
Despite an impressive pro day showing, including a 4.52 forty-yard dash and 6.63 three-cone, evaluators faced a trade-off: elite physical tools and cerebral makeup against inconsistent tape and medical flags. Consensus placed him in the Day 2/Day 3 range, and he was ultimately drafted in the third round, 74th overall, by the Washington Football Team.
- 01
Ideal Physical Frame
Prototype outside frame with 6'3¼" height, 202 lb weight, 32⅝" arms, and 6'6⅝" wingspan.
- 02
Strong Athletic Profile
Clean pro-day athletic profile with a 4.52 forty, 4.01 short shuttle, and 6.63 three-cone time.
- 03
Scheme Versatility
Fits press/zone schemes, played two seasons in a press-heavy system at Minnesota under P.J. Fleck.
- 04
High Football Intelligence
High football IQ noted by coaches, translating mental horsepower to zone eye discipline.
- 05
Physical Run Defender
Physical run and screen defender who fits alleys from depth and forces fumbles at the catch point.
- 01
Limited College Production
Thin college production with only 18 games, 59 tackles, zero interceptions, and one forced fumble at Minnesota.
- 02
Medical History Concerns
Documented medical history includes a redshirted 2018 season due to a hamstring injury and concussion questions.
- 03
Vulnerable to Sudden Routes
Vulnerability to sudden routes; can be beaten by twitched-up route runners on speed outs.
- 04
Late Ball Skills
Late transition and ball skills; had zero college interceptions and projects as primarily a deflection corner.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.51sp50
- Vertical
- 34.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 119inp50
- Three-cone
- 6.63sp50
- Shuttle
- 3.96sp50
- Bench
- 11repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Michigan | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Minnesota | 13 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 2020 | Minnesota | 5 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Career | — | 30 | 62 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Multi-position CB2 with real slot and outside value who starts through a coaching change, exactly the four-year Washington outcome St-Juste produced.
Long-armed zone-first outside corner whose ball production spiked years after the draft — St-Juste has a similar length/scheme fit and could unlock a similar takeaway arc.
Journeyman starter whose length and physicality kept him employed but whose ball skills capped him at CB2 — the floor if the takeaways never come.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Above expectations. Rotational Year 1, starter by Year 2, dependable CB2 by 2023. Signed a 3-year, $32M extension with Washington in 2024. Solid press-man corner, not a takeaway threat. Round-3 pick becoming a starting boundary corner is a hit.
**Pre-draft context.** Benjamin St-Juste arrived at the 2021 NFL Draft as the archetype of a mid-round outside corner: elite frame at 6'3¼" and 202 lb with 32⅝" arms, a 6'6⅝" wingspan and 34.5" vertical, but a résumé that raised as many questions as it answered. A Montreal native who grew up on hockey and learned English at Cégep du Vieux Montréal, he began his college career at Michigan (12 games as a 2017 true freshman) before a hamstring injury forced a 2018 redshirt and, ultimately, a graduate transfer to Minnesota. Two years in a press-heavy scheme produced only 18 games and 59 tackles — no interceptions, one forced fumble — a thin production line that boards flagged alongside a documented concussion/soft-tissue history. He tested cleanly at Minnesota's pro day (4.52 forty, 1.57 split, 4.01 shuttle, 6.63 three-cone) and impressed at the Senior Bowl. The board consensus landed in the Day-2/Day-3 seam: the length, the pro-day athletic profile and the trilingual, cerebral makeup were real, but the college tape was uneven and the medical/production concerns kept him out of the top 60.
**NFL fit — Washington.** Washington took St-Juste at 74 with one of the picks acquired in the Trent Williams trade, projecting him as a long outside corner in a zone-heavy scheme. Year one was interrupted — nine games, three starts, then IR in December for lingering concussion issues. The 2022 season became his real audition: Washington moved him to the slot, then slid him back outside after William Jackson III was benched in Week 5, and he responded with the season's signature play (a goal-line push-out of Darnell Mooney to seal a 12-7 win over Chicago) plus a forced fumble on Quez Watkins the following week versus Philadelphia. He started all 16 games he played in 2023 (67 tackles, 1 INT), then all 17 in 2024 as Washington's most-used outside corner during their playoff run (71 tackles, 7 PDs, a fumble recovery, three postseason appearances). He left in 2025 on a one-year deal to the Chargers, where he became a specialist — 16 games, two starts, one INT versus Miami, and PFF's highest-graded cornerback in zone coverage at 90.1. The Packers signed him to a two-year, $10 million deal in March 2026.
**Retrospective.** The pre-draft flag — thin production, medical history, a frame-and-tools projection over college tape — was directionally correct. St-Juste never became a takeaway corner (two career interceptions in five seasons), but he did exactly what a length-first, zone-fluent Day-2 outside corner is supposed to do: start immediately when healthy, hold up as a CB2 for four Washington seasons through a change in football leadership, and eventually monetize his best trait (zone processing) into a career-defining 2025 as one of the league's most efficient split-safety corners. A mid-round pick that returned real starter snaps and hit its ceiling on a second contract.