Benjamin St-Juste Packers News Packers Cornerbacks Packers Free Agency
Getty
Former Chargers cornerback Benjamin St-Juste
The Los Angeles Chargers entered this offseason with more financial flexibility than any team in the NFL. So far, they have very little to show for it.
Since the legal tampering period opened, the Chargers have watched key targets slip away. Tyler Linderbaum signed with the Las Vegas Raiders. Connor McGovern returned to the Buffalo Bills. Internal free agents Odafe Oweh and Zion Johnson have both signed elsewhere. Los Angeles still carries over $67 million in cap space, but their actions have not reflected that advantage.
Now they have lost another piece, and this one stings more than it might appear on the surface.
St-Juste Heads to Green Bay
Benjamin St-Juste
GettyFormer Chargers cornerback Benjamin St-Juste.
Cornerback Benjamin St-Juste has agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal with the Green Bay Packers, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The 28-year-old spent just one season with the Chargers on a one-year, $2.5 million deal, but his departure leaves a noticeable gap in Los Angeles’ secondary depth.
St-Juste was not a starter in Jim Harbaugh‘s defense. He played just 37 percent of the team’s defensive snaps across 16 games. But per Pro Football Focus, he posted the 11th-best overall coverage grade among 114 qualified cornerbacks. For a player brought in on a modest deal, that kind of production represented real value.
He was also a core special teams contributor, appearing on 67 percent of all special teams plays. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, St-Juste brought size and reliability to a depth role that is harder to fill than most people realize. The fact that Green Bay paid $10 million to land him says plenty about how much he revitalized his value in his one season with Los Angeles.
A Growing Problem for the Chargers
chargers gm jk dobbins
GettyChargers General manager Joe Hortiz.
The Chargers needed depth at cornerback behind Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart. St-Juste was part of that equation. With him gone, that need becomes more pressing.
It is part of a broader pattern that is becoming harder to ignore. Los Angeles gained two offensive linemen in Cole Strange and Trevor Penning during the first day of the legal tampering period. But they simultaneously lost Johnson, Oweh, and now St-Juste. The Chargers’ $67 million in cap space is not doing the work it should be.
General manager Joe Hortiz and Harbaugh have earned the benefit of the doubt. They have a plan. But the pattern of watching targets sign elsewhere while settling for secondary additions is starting to wear thin with a fanbase that expected more aggressive movement.
Final Word for the Chargers
Los Angeles has the resources to make a genuine statement in free agency. They have not done so yet.
St-Juste’s departure adds cornerback depth to a list of needs that continues to grow. The Chargers need to start converting that cap space into meaningful signings before the best options disappear entirely.
Hortiz has time to correct course. But that window is narrowing by the day.