Qwan'tez Stiggers is a reserve cornerback living deep on the Jets' depth chart. But when it comes to special teams, Stiggers, now in his third year with the team, is a valuable gunner who has already played a consequential role only one game into the 2026 season.

On Sunday in Nashville as the Jets won their Week 1 game, 23-10, Stiggers' play on special teams was there for all to see on three plays on specials.

In the first quarter with the Jets leading, 7-3, Austin McNamara hit the first of 3 punts in the game. Stiggers blocked D'Ernest Johnson into returner Chimere Dike, which is not a penalty. Kiko Mauigoa downed the ball.

After the game, Stiggers said his fair catch interference penalty against the Giants in the preseason finale prompted a coachable moment from ST coordinator Chris Banjo.

"The Giants, yeah, I remember that flag I got," said Stiggers, who last season was ranked in the top 15 in gunner win grade percentage and has taken more than 500 ST snaps the past two seasons. "Banjo told me what I can do better next time. I just took that coaching and I applied that to that [play]. That's what I call being coachable."

The Jets took a 10-3 lead after a Jason Sanders field goal midway through the second quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, LB Marcelino McCrary-Ball wrenched the ball from Dike, the Titans' returner. Stiggers recovered the fumble at Tennessee's 38-yard line. A subsequent long field-goal attempt failed.

"I was like damn, you punched the ball out, let me recover it," Stiggers said. "But I ended up running the wrong way. I think I got confused which way our end zone was."

Late in the game, Stiggers downed a McNamara punt inside the Titans' 5-yard line as he first batted the ball, tightrope-walked close to the goal line and then corralled it at the 2.

"The crazy thing about football, a lot of people be like, yeah, offense ... we take pride in special teams, and we showed up the first day," Stiggers said. "AG put a slide out, he was like, 'Know your role and do your role well.' And I wrote that down. I've been looking at it every day. Know your role. Know your role. Know your role. Know your role, because I know the opportunity's going to come to make a difference."

In the game, the Titans averaged minus-5.0 yards per punt return and 20.7 yards per kickoff return, tied for the lowest and the third-lowest marks allowed by any team in Week 1.

"I was kind of like in a flow state,'' Stiggers said. "This has just been marinating in my heart for a long time -- marinating since my rookie year, through all the travel and the trials and tribulations. This year is a really big year for me, my third year. I'm trying to be the best special teams guy in the league. I'm just going to keep it going.

"This is just a small sample right here. It's going to get real. It's going to get real good. Just keep watching.''