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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Three days before the 2024 NFL Draft, Qwan’tez Stiggers stood ready at Blue Beacon Truck Wash, soap gun in hand.
The cornerback knew, at this point, that his draft stock was encouraging.
Why would scouts from 29 teams travel to his independent pro day if they weren’t interested in hiring him?
Why would 13 NFL teams allot one of their 30 pre-draft visit spots to a player whose talent didn’t allure them?
One NFL cornerbacks coach even flew from Florham Park, New Jersey, to Stiggers’ hometown of Atlanta, to coach Stiggers on footwork and efficient transitions in and out of breaks — all in a private workout.
Stiggers knew his NFL future was promising. That didn’t mean he wanted to sit around and wait for it.
So for about four-and-a-half hours on April 22, per his Blue Beacon employment file, Stiggers worked his final shift at one of the several jobs he worked to help support his family during the prior four years across which most of his draft classmates played college football.
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Stiggers maneuvered the low-pressure soap gun alongside his higher-pressure wash and rinse guns, washing roughly seven large trucks an hour, per franchise general manager Travis Bryan. Sometimes, he used a paint brush for spots. No truck could advance to the rinse without supervisor signoff.
“Nothing is automated,” Bryan told Yahoo Sports by phone Thursday. “It’s all hands-on.”
Stiggers’ highly atypical journey to the NFL was the same. He did not follow the playbook. And nothing arrived to him automatically.
Stiggers’ Hollywood-made story has been told in some corners and remains unwritten in others. He traveled a path of arena-league 7-on-7 football and Canadian football to the 176th pick of the 2024 draft, becoming just the fifth NFL player overall to be drafted without playing college football since 1970, NFL data scientist Tom Bliss confirmed to Yahoo Sports.
For those counting at home: 99.965% of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/how-jets-cb-qwantez-stiggers-went-from-washing-trucks-to-becoming-the-most-unique-pick-of-the-nfl-draft-180050215.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-05-31 18:00:50
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