Saturday, Jan 15, 2022. 07:00
MONTREAL – A chance that Benjamin St-Juste is solid in football, but also between the two ears. In his rookie season in the NFL, he achieved the feat of playing as a starter. However, two concussions caused him to miss the last nine games and his 2021 year sadly ended in tragedy as he witnessed a road accident which caused the death of the girlfriend of a teammate.
Before addressing the hardships experienced and his resilience, let us dream while talking about his accomplishments on the ground. It doesn’t happen every day that a Quebecer joins the NFL and gets such a role so quickly. He had to compete against the Aaron Rodgers, Patrick Mahomes, Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill, Stefon Diggs and Mike Williams of this world! It is these images and these moments that will inspire the next generation to want to imitate it.
“For the first games of every game, even though I’m an adult, I’m still a kid who played Madden (the famous video game) and listened to football on Sundays and Mondays with my parents in Quebec,” said reacted St-Juste with a luminous face.
“I almost had my first interception at Lambeau Field, it was crazy! It was against Davante Adams, Rodgers threw a little overhead pass and he hadn’t seen me on cover 3. I almost caught the ball with one hand. It would have been a perfect game, I would have put this picture like poster in my room! “Launched St-Juste with a big smile.
“You have to take the time to appreciate these moments because they will go away quickly. I make sure to do it because I know it was very difficult to get to this level. »
No real need for Benjamin St-Juste to wrap his arm around Adams here, I’m guessing he hadn’t fully located the ball, but if he had, he’d have seen he had a clear path to it. pic.twitter.com/N1WtbhufTL
– Mark Bullock (@MarkBullockNFL) October 24, 2021
If he was on the sidelines for the duel against Tom Brady, he loved treading the lawn at Mile High Stadium in Denver. “It was one of my favorite teams when I was young, when Peyton Manning was there,” he said, giving a shot of old to many supporters and the author of these lines.
It was his last game of his – too short – rookie season. Even if it was brief, the data collected confirmed that he could excel at this level in addition to a first adaptation match against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I wasn’t surprised at what I was able to do because I came in with the mentality that I had to make an immediate impact. It went well during training camp so I knew I would have a lot of responsibility and I was ready when it happened. I will be able to pick up where I left off next season,” noted St-Juste, who wants to continue developing his versatility to be inserted into a multitude of defensive schemes against teams, like the Chiefs or the Bengals, who often deploy several receivers.
Anxiety about wanting to get back to action quickly
Last Sunday, St-Juste had to settle for a spectator role as the Washington team’s season came to an end. The 24-year-old Quebecer had been confined to this reality for more than two months. His second concussion in the space of a few weeks prompted his coach Ron Rivera to make him understand, wisely, that it was better for him to come back strong next season.
“We are in the NFL, it’s a business and it’s very cold in several teams. It’s like ‘You can’t do this or that so we’ll move on to someone else’. But Coach Rivera has a plan for me, that’s why he drafted me and he’s going to continue to take care of me. He told me to take my time, the team wants me to be healthy for the next three years,” he told RDS.ca.
We told you that St-Juste is mentally strong, but it’s also true because he is able to admit his vulnerability. In November, after his second concussion, he wanted to return to the game so badly that he dealt with anxiety.
“The only treatment for a concussion is to be able to ‘shut down’ your brain and not do anything to relax. But me, as a competitor, I wanted to play. I had a lot of game time, I was ready and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity. I started losing sleep over it, I couldn’t sleep anymore and it wasn’t helping my recovery. That’s why they told me to take my time, not to create anxiety, ”confessed the six-foot-three athlete.
St-Juste had never dealt with a concussion and this situation inevitably made him think. After all, as much as a promising career is taking shape on the pitch, he also has a very bright future outside of it.
“Whenever I suffer an injury, I always think of putting a little more energy into my plan B. That’s why I took the academic side so seriously when I was in university. In four, eight or ten years, the NFL will be over. I will be in my thirties and I will have 50 years to live. I always think about what I would like to do after football, I don’t want it to be a shock when it’s over. I’m already trying to create an identity for myself outside of football,” admitted the man who completed a master’s degree in sports management and a bachelor’s degree in sociology.
A sobering tragedy
At his age, it is already a sign of maturity that he is thinking about his future in this way. But, just before Christmas, life cruelly reminded him that it’s the present moment that matters.
His teammate Deshazor Everett had a car accident in which his girlfriend sadly lost her life. St-Juste and another teammate were following Everett’s vehicle when the incident occurred.
“It’s very sad…Deshazor is going through a great mental ordeal. It made me realize that everything is very precious, especially life, so you have to be careful in everything you do and you have to enjoy every moment with those around you. You never know if this is the last time you will see them. It’s hard to find the right words, but we will learn from this event. It could have happened to anyone, me or another of my teammates. We are there, we support it a lot, ”concluded St-Juste with a speech that takes on even more meaning when he will marry his fiancée in April.
