I’m writing this article before watching the film on Benjamin St-Juste, the newest Green Bay Packers, which could come and bite me in the butt later, but there are some interesting aspects to this signing, so I want to get that information out to you guys before I move on to my next task. Let’s break them down one-by-one.
Is He A Starter?
Probably not. Maybe he’ll compete for a job, depending on what happens for the rest of the offseason.
The most consistent number for cornerbacks year to year (it’s a volatile position)
is their yards allowed per coverage snap (assuming there’s volume backing it up). Here’s how St-Juste’s career has played out, per the data from NFL Pro, the league’s player tracking service.
St-Juste showed some improvement last season with the Los Angeles Chargers (as a part-time defender), when he played on a one-year, $2.5 million contract coming off two years as a starter with the Washington Commanders. For perspective, though, his 1.13 yards per coverage snap allowed were pretty much in the same range as both Keisean Nixon (1.16) and Carrington Valentine (1.14) in 2025. These are slightly below average numbers (Nixon and Valentine aren’t as bad as fans think), but the big worry was that this was “the good year” on St-Juste’s resume (at least in the last three years).
Here are the Nixon and Valentine charts (these numbers show snaps at outside cornerback only, so we can compare apples to apples):
One benefit that will help St-Juste hit the ground running is that he’s already played in a quarters-based scheme during his time in Los Angeles. Hopefully, there will be a shorter learning curve, and he can come off the bench and perform like he did with the Chargers.
So what is he?
First of all, St-Juste played 296 special teams snaps, which is a pretty insane amount. For perspective, he played more special teams snaps than every Packers player in 2025 but one, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie (302 in 17 games). Green Bay’s most-played cornerback on special teams last year was Bo Melton (185 snaps), if you want to count him as a cornerback (he’s still never played a snap of defense in his NFL career and played 96 offensive snaps last year). If you don’t want to count Melton, the Packers’ most-played cornerback on teams in 2025 was Carrington Valentine with 78 total snaps, 26 percent of what St-Juste played last year.
The moment that St-Juste walks through the door, he’s going to be the most veteran special teams coverage player (think kickoff, punt gunner, jammer on punt return, etc.) in the cornerback room. I have to think that this was a MAJOR factor in his signing (and it makes sense that Green Bay targeted a guy with this background if they believe he’s probably going to end up as a depth piece).
Isn’t $5 million a year for a special teamer/depth a lot, though?
Kind of, but teams do it.
The example I’d point to is former Packers cornerback Tremon Smith, who is now a Houston Texan. He’s currently on a deal paying him $3.25 million per. He’s a special teams ace for the Texans and is getting paid around the same ballpark (we don’t have the full St-Juste details, so it might be heavily backloaded for non-guaranteed money in 2027 and that’s bringing that APY up). Smith has played 2,274 special teams snaps to just 657 defensive snaps in his career. In the two years before signing that $3.25 million APY contract, Smith played 20 defensive snaps to 720 special teams snaps, so the deal was negotiated with the idea being that he was going to be a depth/special teams player, not pushing for a starting job.
Among all cornerbacks in the NFL, St-Juste was the seventh-most-played special teamer in the league last year. For perspective, Smith was fifth.
Opportunity Cost – Comp Picks
If the team finally wants to get serious about teams, great. I won’t stand in their way. The team has been dead last in the league for multiple decades compared to the rest of the league. We’ve seen the Packers prioritize special teams this offseason. They have brought back running back Chris Brooks, linebacker Nick Niemann and linebacker Kristian Welch, which the team didn’t have to do.
What I will say, though, is that St-Juste counts as a compensatory free agent. I did a big ole write-up about the comp pick system earlier this month, and I advise you to read it if you aren’t familiar with it. There are a lot of moving parts, to the detriment of fans who want easy answers.
The most likely scenario for the Packers right now is that they end up with these values for qualifying compensatory free agents they’ll lose in the 2026 cycle:
- Malik Willis: 3rd round (after cap casualties and playing time is accounted for)
- Rasheed Walker: 3rd round (projected, look to make sure he crosses $20 million APY)
- Romeo Doubs: 4th/5th round ($15 million APY is the number to watch here, as that’s sort of the threshold)
- Quay Walker: 5th round (I’m pretty firm on this being a 5th rounder, no matter the playing time)
- Kinsgley Enagbare: 6th round (firm)
The order of operations for the comp pick formula means that St-Juste will cancel out the projected Enagbare compensatory pick for 2027. The good news for the Packers is they were never going to collect the Enagbare pick (teams can only be awarded four picks a year, higher ones count first) unless they offset a higher-valued selection. The bad news for the Packers is that moving forward, since they’ve already taken their free swing on a compensatory free agent, if they add even one more compensatory free agent (even if it’s on something like a $2.5 million per deal), Green Bay is not only on the hook for the player’s contract, but they’ll also cancel out at least a fifth-round pick (one they could actually claim next year, unlike the Enagbare pick) in the process.
Unless the team is going to swing big on someone worth burning a pick for — like a Tariq Woolen, the second-ranked cornerback in the class who is also the 16th-ranked overall player — it makes more sense for the Packers, at this point, to sit out the compensatory free agent market moving forward and just focus on cap casualties or the trade market (where additions will not result in additional lost draft picks).
