Are the Expectations Around Derek Stingley Too High?
Derek Stingley played in 25 games for LSU and did well. But, as I said above, his skills were there but unfortunately- so were the injuries.
In his first season at LSU, he played in 15 games and finished with superb stats. Finishing the season with 31 tackles, 1.0 TFL, and six interceptions, he was the name on every teams radar. He was potentially going to be the best cornerback prospect since Jalen Ramsey which was the biggest of complement’s for a freshman cornerback.
But, as you all know, the next season, he had injuries deplete his season. Furthermore, he also missed a great majority of games this past season. So, trying to figure out if he can ever get back to the player he was is the big question. Right now, all we can do is wait and speculate.
My thoughts on the matter are that the Texans organization is putting incredibly high standards on a player who hasn’t played a full season since 2019. Additionally, he is about to be facing off against some of the best wide receivers in the world as a rookie.
When looking at the history of first year cornerbacks, the list of first year cornerbacks to make a stance as one of the best in the game is limited. The obvious answer to backup Stingley is Ramsey. But there was also Denzel Ward and Jaire Alexander who dominated in their first year in the league. But Stingley’s situation is different than theirs.
Facing off against guys like Jerry Jeudy, Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Ceedee Lamb, Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, and that’s just to name a couple. I hate putting expectations on rookie cornerbacks. But how can they look at the list of receivers he’ll be facing and think that we aren’t setting him up for failure?
So, as I stated above, are the expectations too high? What do you think?