A five-year-old video of President Donald Trump praising Derek Stingley Jr. resurfaced on Monday after the latter signed a record-setting extension on Monday.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Houston Texans handed Stingley a lucrative three-year contract extension worth $90 million. The deal makes the 2022 first-round pick the highest-paid cornerback in league history.
Stingley has played a pivotal role in the Texans’ rapid turnaround under head coach DeMeco Ryans and quarterback C.J. Stroud. The LSU product has recorded 11 interceptions and 36 pass breakups over his first three seasons, leading Houston to consecutive AFC South division crowns in 2023 and 2024.
After news of Derek Stingley’s extension broke, a clip of Trump praising the cornerback from 2020 resurfaced. Trump made the comments in 2020 when he welcomed the national champion LSU Tigers to the White House:
“The ball was picked up by a true freshman cornerback who had spent the game shutting down Clemson’s offense, that’s for sure, on his side of the field: Derek Stingley Jr.”
Stingley and the LSU defense made easy work of Trevor Lawrence and Clemson in the 2019 national championship game. Stingley recovered a fumble, and Clemson was limited to 394 yards of offense in the 42-25 loss.
That dream LSU squad was led on offense by Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. Burrow completed arguably the best single season ever by a quarterback in the NCAA with 463 passing yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions in the loss.
Five years later, Burrow, Chase, Jefferson and Stingley have cemented themselves as NFL superstars with record-setting extensions in their pockets.
Derek Stingley Resets The Cornerback Market
Stingley’s contract extension is a win-win for other superstar cornerbacks who are in line for new deals. Per Spotrac, Stingley’s $30 million average annual value tops all cornerbacks by a wide margin, with Jaycee Horn (Carolina Panthers) a distant second at $25 million.
Sauce Gardner (New York Jets) and Trent McDuffie (Kansas City Chiefs) need new extensions soon, too. Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean of the Philadelphia Eagles had fantastic rookie years and will likely surpass Stingley’s $30 million AAV if they continue to lock it down in the secondary.
