All-Twenty Tuesday: CB M.J. Stewart

Let’s talk about fearlessness, a trait that has to exist in all good cornerbacks. Whether you’re going up against one of the best receivers in the game or in a situation where you need to make an open field tackle, attitude and mentality are everything for defensive backs that are often times out-sized by their assignments.

One of M.J. Stewart’s best qualities is that he’s not afraid to come up and lay hits (he’s No. 6 in the North Carolina videos). I don’t need to remind you of what happens when a cornerback playing the nickel position is afraid to make hits (see Tampa Bay’s Vernon Hargreaves III in the Arizona Cardinals game last year), but it’s not a pretty sight when that happens.

That won’t happen with Stewart.

Stewart seems to enjoy big hits, tackles for loss and sacks just as much as he does interceptions or pass break ups. He’s always looking to come up and make stops on the ball, whether that’s against wide receivers, running backs or tight ends. He’s not quite as confident yet with the Bucs and going up against these NFL players as he is in his clips when he’s at UNC, but if he gets there you’re going to see a fearless player around the line of scrimmage.

A big problem with Bucs’ cornerbacks last season was that they were liabilities in different ways. For Brent Grimes it seemed that he was a liability in press courage (an area where Ryan Smith and Vernon Hargreaves thrived), and also in run support. For Smith, he was a liability in off coverage (where Grimes thrived). And for Hargreaves, physicality when coming up to make plays on the ball was nonexistent last year when he was lined up in off coverage. That’s why you saw teams like the Cardinals run the ball down the Bucs’ throat. They would get it to the edge and no one would want to tackle Adrian Peterson.

Stewart seems to be the opposite. He seems to be well balanced in all of those areas, and actually fares best when he’s allowed to be physical. We’ve seen plenty of this in Bucs camp already.

Just because Stewart didn’t grab any interceptions in his final two seasons at UNC doesn’t mean he’s not capable of doing that.

Plays like the one above show how successful Stewart can be when he’s allowed to play press coverage from the nickel role. Stewart, as we’ve seen in Bucs camp, seems to be joined at the hip with receivers, at times. He plays bump-and-run down the field well, disrupting straight line speed and knocking receivers off their routes with subtle contact. Any receiver that doesn’t like physicality will have a long day with Stewart in coverage. He’s annoying – the best cornerbacks are.

Stewart is quicker than he is fast, and his lack of straight-line speed and recovery speed is probably why he’s not considered a full-time outside cornerback. But, don’t make the mistake of thinking that he can’t make plays down the field just because he’s not a low 4-4 40-yard dash guy.

That play above is so beautiful we need to see it from another angle.

My goodness, what a play.

Do you like the fact that Stewart was beat in the first place? Certainly not, but the fact that he kicked it into full speed and was starving to still not let up on that catch – to not have a touchdown on him in the stat book is the attitude every good cornerback needs.

Stewart, like fellow rookie Carlton Davis, brings something to the Buccaneers defensive back group that they didn’t have much of last year. He’s physical first, but has all-around game, and that’s why we’re seeing the Bucs coaches find ways to get him as many reps as they have in training camp so far in both nickel defense in the slot and on the outside as well.

How much the Bucs will play Stewart on each unit along the depth chart has yet to be seen but will be answered this Thursday in the team’s battle with the Miami Dolphins. What I’m expecting to see is a player who has waited a long time to suit up in an NFL uniform, and one who won’t be quick to have any catches against him, no matter what receiver he’s guarding.

Whoever it is, I expect Stewart to be up for the challenge.