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\u2019t as bad as fans think), but the big worry was that this was \u201cthe good year\u201d on St-Juste\u2019s resume (at least in the last three years).<\/p>\n Here are the Nixon and Valentine charts (these numbers show snaps at outside cornerback only, so we can compare apples to apples):<\/p>\n One benefit that will help St-Juste hit the ground running is that he\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s most-played cornerback on special teams last year was Bo Melton (185 snaps), if you want to count him as a cornerback (he\u2019s still never played a snap of defense in his NFL career and played 96 offensive snaps last year). If you don\u2019t want to count Melton, the Packers\u2019 most-played cornerback on teams in 2025 was Carrington Valentine with 78 total snaps, 26 percent of what St-Juste played last year.<\/p>\n The moment that St-Juste walks through the door, he\u2019s 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\u2019s probably going to end up as a depth piece).<\/p>\n Isn\u2019t $5 million a year for a special teamer\/depth a lot, though?<\/p>\n Kind of, but teams do it.<\/p>\n The example I\u2019d point to is former Packers cornerback Tremon Smith, who is now a Houston Texan. He\u2019s currently on a deal paying him $3.25 million per. He\u2019s a special teams ace for the Texans and is getting paid around the same ballpark (we don\u2019t have the full St-Juste details, so it might be heavily backloaded for non-guaranteed money in 2027 and that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Opportunity Cost – Comp Picks<\/p>\n If the team finally wants to get serious about teams, great. I won\u2019t stand in their way. The team has been dead last in the league for multiple decades compared to the rest of the league<\/a>. We\u2019ve 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\u2019t have to do.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-10-at-8.23.50\u202fAM.png\"\/)
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