For some athletes, there reaches a point where they've mastered their craft to such a degree that it requires any comparisons to be one that is outside of the box, so to speak. For example, a young LeBron James was occasionally compared to peak Bo Jackson because of the otherworldly athleticism each man possessed. Mike Tyson once compared watching Roger Federer on the tennis court to watching Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring. Shoot, on a recent podcast, I even compared the isolation ball-handling skills of Allen Iverson to former Kansas City Chiefs return specialist Dante Hall.
This is now the point we've arrived at with Houston Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., who recorded the first pick six of his NFL career during Sunday afternoon's win against the Las Vegas Raiders. Even without a defensive touchdown to his name until yesterday, Stingley has been a fixture in the best cornerback alive conversation for the better part of the last two years, locking down wide receivers to the point that quarterbacks smartly avoid throwing his way.
For defensive backs, this is the ultimate level of respect, but after a narrow victory over Las Vegas in Week 16, Texans safety Jalen Pitre tried to take things up a level, stating that with everything Stingley can do on a football field, you have to compare him to some of the greatest NBA players ever... and not just individually. According to Pitre, you have to combine the skillsets of LeBron James, Kevin Durant AND Stephen Curry to capture what Stingley is capable of on the gridiron.
"He can do anything he wants to do," Pitre said of Stingley, according to Matt Young of the Houston Chronicle. "He's a cornerback, obviously. He's the best cornerback in the league. He could play receiver. I don't know if y'all have seen him on a juke, but he could play running back. And I know y'all haven't seen him at practice, but he also could play quarterback. There's nothing he can't do."
Cornerback, receiver, quarterback? That's one hell of a triple threat, and it prompted Pitre to toss Shohei Ohtani's name out there as well, though to really capture the comparison, you need to throw Derek Jeter in there too.
"I'm gonna be honest, it's not enough though," Pitre said. "It's got to be some more names in there. Probably add Derek Jeter in there, because he's definitely one of those ones."
Derek Stingley Jr. ponders the possibility of playing wide receiver
Since Stingley arrived in the league in 2022, there's been an understanding that the former 3rd overall pick in the NFL Draft maybe has the best set of hands of any defensive back in the league. But after we got to see Stingley turn defense into offense on Sunday, it's worth wondering whether the Texans would ever consider letting the Shohei Ohtani of the NFL get in the mix offensively.
Although Stingley won't publicly campaign to play both ways, it's at least crossed his mind, and as Stingley explained after the win, it shouldn't just be him that the Texans try out as two-way hybrids.
"I'm not in control of that," Stingley said. "If they want to do it, they've got to bring Kamari (Lassiter) with me and CB (Calen Bullock) and Pitre, everybody. Just put all the DBs at receiver."
For what it's worth, even lining up exclusively on defense, Stingley, Bullock, Lassiter and Pitre have combined for 16 'receptions' this year.