Even before he signed his first NFL contract with the New York Jets on Monday, DB Qwan’tez Stiggers got a strange phone call from someone inquiring about his tax payments.
“Hello, this is the IRS,” Stiggers, a fifth-round pick of the Jets, recalled of the announcement on the other end of the line. “I’m like, ‘IRS?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, this is the IRS, we’re trying to find out, did you do your Canadian taxes?'”
Stiggers (22) played last season with the Toronto Argonauts and lined up at defensive back. Stiggers, one of 13 children, dropped out of Lane College (Jackson, TN) after his father died in 2020. His mother urged him to return to football and he played in the Fan Controlled Football League (7-on-7 indoor football) in 2022 before joining the Argos on Jan. 4, 2023. In 15 CFL games, he racked up 5 INTs and 53 defensive tackles and got on the radar of NFL scouts and IRS agents like Jets senior defensive assistant/CB coach Tony Oden. After being named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie and shining at the East-West Shrine game, the Jets had Stiggers on their radar and Oden grew close with the talented prospect.
“It was almost surreal for me,” Stiggers said. “I came up to the Jets on a top-30 visit. Me and Coach TO built a great relationship. I just feel like home, honestly. I might not have gone in the round I wanted to go in, but at the end of the day – I love that the Jets selected me. I’m going to make them pay. They’re going to have to pay all year.”
Believed to be the first CFL player drafted by an NFL team without college experience, Stiggers credits his mom, his fiancée and entire family for not giving up on something that would have seemed impossible a couple of years ago.
“When we received word that there’s a CFL player that’s draft eligible, that’s a unique situation right, so it raises some eyebrows,” said Jets GM Joe Douglas. “Obviously, he was rookie of the year for Toronto, and so that’s the…
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