For New Packers Cornerback, It’s Been Picture-Perfect Start to Training Camp

GREEN BAY, Wis. – New Green Bay Packers cornerback Benjamin St-Juste has an old-school hobby.

Photography.

Not today’s instant-gratification digital photography made possible by a new camera or a quality cell phone. St-Juste carries a Yashica T4 or Olympus camera. How the pictures turn out are a mystery until he develops the 35-millimeter film.

“I love the fact that it’s not like digital where you can come back and be like, ‘Oh, let me pose again or let me try something different,’” he said this week at Packers training camp. “It’s film. You take one picture and it comes out good or comes out bad. But that’s that little surprise that I like.”

The Montreal native got his start while he was a student/athlete at the University of Minnesota during the pandemic.

“We had a lot of downtime and I saw somebody post on Instagram a couple pictures,” he said. “I love the feel that it has. It has a vintage feel, like sometimes a picture has a little bit of a burnt film around it. So, it was like, I’m going to buy one on eBay – 40, 50 dollars – and I’ve been taking pictures ever since.”

St-Juste said he appreciates “the art” of film photography, and he’s used it to chronicle many of his adventures.

“I take a lot of trips during the offseason up in Europe or it could be car stuff or it could be football trips,” he said. “I remember last year when we played at the Chiefs in Brazil, I brought it there, took some pictures, memories that I can probably show my kids that I’ve done.”

Benjamin St-Juste Could Be Big Solution at Cornerback

The Packers signed St-Juste in free agency to potentially solve their problems at cornerback. To say he’s created memories in his short time in Green Bay, of course, would be an overstatement, but he did have a memorable pick-six at practice on Friday.

“I didn’t really see any action the first couple of days of training camp,” he said. “I was still in the right spot, but I wasn’t chasing the play. Like, ugh, I’m not making any plays and all that stuff. Finally, the ball came and I was going to go capitalize.”

The Packers for a few years have been something of an oddity at cornerback. They do not like short cornerbacks. Period, end of conversation. That started with Ron Wolf’s admitted mistake with Terrell Buckley in the first round in 1992 and was rekindled with Mike Sherman’s ill-advised decision to break from Wolf’s policy when he drafted Ahmad Carroll in 2004.

But the Packers haven’t had any tall cornerbacks, either. Last year’s starters were Keisean Nixon (5-foot-10 14), Carrington Valentine (5-foot-11 5/8) and Nate Hobbs (5-foot-11 3/8). At the Scouting Combine in 2021, on the other hand, St-Juste measured 6-foot-3 1/4, making him one of the tallest cornerbacks in the NFL.

“Yeah, the crazy thing is at 15 I was 5-9,” he said. “I remember making my highlights at the end of the year and I was 5-9, 145. And then the next year at 16, I was 6-3 and like 175.

“So, it was a big learning curve to learn how to play at this height because a lot of coaches, they’re like, ‘Yeah, he’s tall, but can he move? Does he have hips? Does he have good feet?’ So, I’ve always been working on that since a young age because I never wanted to be the tall corner that’s stiff.”

St-Juste has hips. He’s not just a tall cornerback. He ran his 20-yard shuttle in 4.01 seconds – a time almost as elite as his size.

St-Juste’s Height Could Be Huge in Certain Matchups

That made him a third-round pick by Washington. He had his moments of playing high-level football. In 2022, when he was a full-time starter for the first time, he allowed a catch rate of only 53.8 percent, according to Pro Football Focus. In 2023, that soared to 68.0 percent, but he finished among the NFL leaders in passes defensed. In 2024, he allowed a catch rate of 63.6 percent but four touchdowns and a passer rating of 107.0.

Last offseason, he settled for a one-year deal with the Chargers. Their depth at cornerback limited him to two starts and 356 defensive snaps. When he was on the field, though, he was excellent in terms of coverage (50.0 percent, 64.0 passer rating) and tackling (3.3 percent missed tackles). In fact, he was in the top 10 in the league in all three categories.

Then-Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Benjamin St-Juste (24) breaks up a pass intended for Colts wide receiver Alec Pierce. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“I’m very versatile,” St-Juste said. “With my size, I tackle well, I’m able to set the edges, make sure that on my side of the ball, it’s not easy to run the ball there. If we play man, I’m very aggressive with the smaller receivers. That’s where they like me using my length, using my arms to slow down the process.

“Sometimes the quarterback might look my way and the receiver’s getting jammed up, and then that helps the corner and the safety on the other side because then he’s got to take his progression to the other side. And then also in zone, it’s very hard to get the ball over me in Cover 2 or Cover 3, jump balls and stuff like that.”

St-Juste could be a big piece – pun intended – in Green Bay’s revamped cornerback room. The Packers released Hobbs, signed St-Juste and drafted Brandon Cisse in the second round and Domani Jackson in the sixth round.

St-Juste, of course, is eyeing a starting job, but who’s on the field could be dictated by matchups. At his size, he could be a key player against certain receivers.

“Receivers are big nowadays,” he said. “There’s a lot of mismatches, that they like to call it on the offensive side when they see a smaller DB. So, with me, that doesn’t really exist. We get into the red zone and trying to throw the jump ball, the fade ball and trying to take advantage of a smaller corner, it’s going to be pretty tough for me.”

St-Juste Learned From Experience

St-Juste called last season the best of his career. He believes his success with the Chargers and playing in a similar defensive scheme can carry over to Green Bay.

“Oh, yeah, 100 percent,” he said. “You’re always trying to do better than what you did last year. And what I did last year, I’ve learned a lot from what I’m good at and what I’m trying to own on and really work on the details.

“And that’s the same thing I’m trying to do this year. I feel like you learn more from your down years or bad years. I feel like there’s no player that just have a steady ascension every year. If you have a little bit of roadblock or a down year, that’s where you learn a lot and you can take that next step. I think that’s what I did.”

His big takeaway with the Chargers was simply relying on what he does best. At this point in 2024 with Washington, he was entering his final season under contract. While he finished fourth in the league with 17 breakups in 2023, he had only one interception – the first of his career.

“It was a big knock on me,” he said. “It was like, OK, he covers well, he’s a big corner, he’s always in man, but he needs to get his hands on football. He needs to get more interceptions. He has tons of PBUs but he needs to get more interceptions.”

So, St-Juste tried to change things up by trying to bait quarterbacks into bad decisions that he could turn into interceptions.

“That’s not what made me great,” he said. “That’s not why they drafted me. That’s not why I’m here.”

St-Juste started his college career at Michigan under Jim Harbaugh, who is now the coach of the Chargers. St-Juste not only reunited with his old coach last year but his former play style.

It worked.

“You can’t chase plays,” he said. “You got to let the plays come to you, and you might get one or two opportunities. Don’t try to be greedy and go get four or five now. Now, they run a double move on you or something else and score. So, you got to take what they give you, and I had to learn that.

“Obviously, you either grow from it or you die from it. I think I grew from it last year, learning it and getting better. And then now, we’re just going to double down on that this year.”

What happened today at Packers training camp?

A lot.

Highlighted by 1-minute drills, here's the Play of the Day, Player of the Day, the winning unit, injuries, lineups, highlights and more from Practice 3. ⬇️https://t.co/Q4LvYL7L04
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 31, 2026

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