Battle Red Blog
The Houston Texans’ star cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. has been one of the most underrated defenders in the NFL. But on the NFL Top 100 list, he’s finally getting the recognition he deserves:
Derek Stingley Jr. has been ranked 18th(!!!) of 100 players voted on by his peers. In his first full season healthy, Stingley tallied 54 tackles, 4 tackles-for-loss, 5 interceptions for a total of 48 yards, and 18 pass deflections. He earned his first pro-bowl and all-pro commendations, and now, for the first time, revered by his peers as the 18th best player in the NFL.
Even with sky-high expectations coming out of college, this was a long time coming for Derek Stingley. He missed most of his final collegiate season at LSU due to Lisfranc surgery, his rookie campaign was shortened due to 9 games because of a leg injury, and he only played 11 games in the 2023 because of a hamstring injury. Snake bitten by injuries for much of the last few years, 2024 was that perfect ray of sunshine he had been waiting for since being drafted by the Texans third overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.
When asked about Stingley by NFL Films, fellow star cornerback Patrick Surtain II of the Denver Broncos had this to say:
“His tape jumps out…I mean, he’s just a ball hawk. Whenever the ball’s in the air, you just see him making a play…And from technical standpoint, he got one of the best techniques in the game that I’ve seen from corner this year.” – Patrick Surtain II
Stingley’s head coach, DeMeco Ryans, echoed Surtain’s sentiment back in March:
“Not many guys have that ability to track the football so a lot of guys play DB because they can’t catch it but Derek does a good job of playing with great awareness but also having great hands to finish the play and make teams pay.” – DeMeco Ryans
Stingley is the sixth Texan to appear on the Top 100 Players of 2025. He joins:
Will Stingley climb even higher up the rankings in 2026? Only time will tell, but if 2025 was just a preview of what we can expect when Stingley’s healthy, then he has a very good chance of breaking the top ten! What do you think, though? Will Stingley be Houston’s highest rated player again next year, or will we see one of his teammates take that honor? Maybe…CJ Stroud? Maybe…Will Anderson Jr.? Let us know down in the comments below!
GO TEXANS!!!!!
