Add The New York Post on Google Third-year Jets cornerback and special teams ace Qwan’tez Stiggers covers some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby.
Q: What’s different about this Jets team?
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A: We brought a lot of guys in that can help us win. We just want to win. I want to see this organization win. I want to be a part of it.
Q: From your Instagram: “Overstood, Year 3.”
A: I’m really standing on business this year. Like, this is the year where like a lot of people are going to feel me. That’s what “overstood” means.
Q: Why are you standing on business?
A: In any situation you got to stand on business. What’s so special about this year? It’s just something that’s been marinating for so long — like, so much pain, depression, people overlooking me. I don’t get enough respect for my role. I’m trying to earn respect for really everybody around the league — like gunners, we have a job, too.
A: I believe so, yes. I believe I’m an All-Pro gunner. … I got the speed, the physicality, I got the knowledge. You’re gonna see a lot this year.
Q: April 16, 2020 on your Instagram: “My mom will have a son in the NFL.”
A: It was just something in my heart that I ended up posting — and look at me now (laugh)! Look at me now!
Q: Describe your on-field mentality.
A: Oh, I’m a dawg. I don’t talk a lot. I let my game talk.
Q: Who’s going to get the first interception this year for this team?
A: If I had to put all my money on it … I can name two people. … I’m going to go with the corners, Azareye’h [Thomas or] Brandon [Stephens].
Q: Describe special teams coordinator Chris Banjo.
A: He don’t give you coach-talk. One day Banjo’s going to be a head coach. I believe that … because of how smart he is.
A: If you bulls–t, he’s going to tell you you’re bulls–ting. If you’re bulls–ting, get off the field. Let’s be on top of the little things. We understand we’re football players and we can make plays, but let’s clean up and fine tune the little details.
A: Double-D. For a player to give me a shoutout after the game, it just kind of shows you the bond that we’re building. We’re not the Same Old Jets. We’re going to hold everybody accountable for anything, the small little details, the big details, the mistakes — we’re going to hold everybody accountable.
A: They wrote him off — and he ain’t write back. That’s all I got to say. Great leader, great person. We expect big things out of Geno this year.
Q: From your Instagram: “They tried to bury me, dog, but they can’t bury what comes from the dirt — Amik Robertson.”
A: I was a fifth-round draft pick [in 2024]. Everything I [have] been through — you can’t bury what comes from the mud. My whole life I’ve been just this guy who just wanted to be better for me and my family. Doing that you got to be dirty and grimy, and so you really can’t bury what comes from the dirt.
Q: Another one: “Patience is when you’re supposed to be mad but you choose to understand.”
A: You really got to stay down for it. You really can’t force nothing. When I first came into this league, when I made plays, I was looking for like some sort of validation from people. But I don’t really look for validation no more because the plays that I make, I’m supposed to make them plays.
Q: One more: “Complacency is the enemy of greatness.”
A: It is. I used to say this all the time when I was working 9-5 at Blue Beacon. Sometimes 9-5 makes you forget about your dreams. You get so caught up with just living week to week that you just don’t feel like you can get better. You should wake up every day wanting to be better than you were the day before.
Q: What was that period like when your father, Rayves Harrison, was on life support for eight months after his 2020 car accident?
A: Man … The hard part for me was knowing that he was in the hospital and also not being able to see him. I wasn’t able to say my final goodbyes. I just told my little brothers and my siblings that God made no mistakes. So I just kind of told them that you got to keep your head up and just keep moving.
Q: It wasn’t easy for you to keep moving right after he passed away.
A: No it wasn’t. That’s part of the reason why I dropped out of school, slash, got my [Lane College] scholarship taken because I couldn’t shake my depression.
Q: How long did that depression last?
A: Dark as if the sun’s not outside. No light in the room, like that dark. I used to just sit in the house, sit in my room by myself and just … just cry. But I got a great wife, I got a great family, great mom, great stepfather, which I refer to as my father now to kind of help me shake out of my depression.
A: Just talking. Talking to my mom. Talking to my big brother [Qwantayvious]. What really made me shake out of my depression, my older brother, we were just talking one day, he was like, “You want me to be real with you?” I was like, “Yeah, like, just be real.” He was like, “Nobody really cares that you’re sad.” I was like, “You might be right about that.” Life’s going to move on, whether you want to go move on or not. It’s going to always move on. That’s what kind of helped me get out of my depression.
A: My mom’s name is Kwanna, and then my brother’s name is Qwantayvious Artez Stiggers. And what she did was she just took his first name and part of his middle name and made Qwan’tez, and then my dad’s name was Ray, and my name is Qwan, so his name is Rayquan, and then my dad’s middle name is Desmond, so my youngest brother’s name is Raydemond.
A: A great father figure. There’s moments that you wish you could get back but you can’t. There was so much love and respect between us.
Q: Do you think about him on gameday?
A: Every time I pray, I ask him to watch over me, watch over my family, my kids, my brothers. I call my little brothers before the game, we all pray together. I got 13 siblings, 11 boys, two girls. We get on a group call, pray right before the game, and I go out there and do my best for them.
Q: The neighborhood you grew up around Atlanta was rough.
A: You see danger, you run away. That’s what my momma taught me (laugh), that’s what I do. I see danger, I go the other way.
Q: Qwantayvious suffered a spinal injury playing football.
A: I was in eighth grade when it happened. I was the water boy for the high school team, and it was the first game of his season. We still talk about it to this day. He had like multiple offers, but some of his great offers were like Harvard and Princeton and Brown. He was the valedictorian of his class. … He had a full ride, academic and football to Georgia Tech. What happened was he was going to make a tackle, and he dove, but his teammate’s cleat got stuck in the top of his helmet, and it kind of extended back. When it first happened, we were just like, “He’ll be alright.” Took him to the hospital, he had a neck brace on, he had a doctor’s appointment the next day. Him and my mom were just there. I’m just telling you what she told me. The doctor was like, “Whose scan is this? My mom was like, “It’s his.” They were basically saying like by the grace of God, the scan of whoever it was was supposed to been dead or paralyzed. God willing, he wasn’t. And then, just being there for him when they told him that he could never play football again. It kind of took the life out of him for a couple of weeks, a couple of months, but then he realized maybe just football wasn’t his purpose. Have you ever heard of the Gates Millennium [Scholars Program]. There’s a scholarship by Bill Gates that basically pays for your school for 10 years, and he had got that, so he went to school free for 10 years.
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Q: How much did you make working for DoorDash after high school?
A: Ah, man (laugh). Probably like $60 a night, $70 a night. Not much. Not much.
Q: You worked at a car wash, too?
A: It’s this place called Blue Beacon, it was a truck wash. I probably made like $16 an hour.
Q: This was all during the same period?
A: When I first graduated, I started working at Walmart. I was the cart pusher. Then I quit that … so it was DoorDash, Walmart, then I started working at Mavis for a couple of weeks, then I worked at DHL and then I worked at Blue Beacon, and then I had my own mechanic service. I used to go around changing brakes and changing oil, and then I went back to Blue Beacon, and then that’s when my momma signed me up for the Fan Controlled League.
Q: You played in the Fan Controlled League before heading to the CFL. Was the fan league fun?
A: I met a lot of good people. I played against Terrell Owens, the NFL great.
A: Sticky, man. I’m Sticky (smile). I played against Terrance Williams, Martavis Bryant, I still talk to Martavis to this day.
Q: You and your wife Cheyenne have two children.
A: My son [Legend] is 4, my daughter [Lei’lani] is 1.
A: [Barack] Obama, Qwantayvious. Mr. Will, my mom’s husband.
A: God, my family, myself, organization — and I also do it for the ones who can’t. … The people who are struggling with depression, people who are struggling with mental health. I do it for everybody who can’t.
Q: If your life was a movie, what should the title be?
A: “Know Your Role.” … I feel like some people in this line of business, they don’t take their role seriously, and that’s what I’ve been doing, just been knowing my role and not letting anybody minimize it.
A: “Perseverance.” … I’ve been through a lot in my life, still going through a lot in my life. I just keep my faith in God and always continue to keep my head up.
Q: Why are you proud of yourself and what are you most proud of?
A: I’ve been in the NFL three years, and I got drafted with no college experience. I’m really proud of myself for that.
Q: What are you going to be thinking about on Sunday standing in the tunnel for the home opener?
