Cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. landed on the radars of NFL teams while helping LSU win a national title during his freshman year and he was seen as a future top pick by the time his first college season came to an end.
Stingley’s final two years at the SEC school made him look like less of a sure thing. He only played in 10 games as he dealt with a variety of injuries that left him playing at a lower level than he reached in 2019. That led to a wide variety of predictions about when he would be drafted because positive projections were based on games played years ago, but Stingley’s name still wound up coming up early in Thursday night’s first round.
The Texans made Stingley the third overall pick and Stingley said on Friday that he credited the team with seeing what really mattered about his game.
“They saw my true talent beyond everything else,” Stingley said, via Brooks Kubena of the Houston Chronicle.
Texans head coach Lovie Smith hasn’t been shy about saying that the team needs more production at cornerback if they’re going to play the kind of defense they want to play. Getting the Stingley of 2019 and keeping him on the field would do a lot to provide Smith with what he’s looking for.