Las Vegas and Green Bay swapped cornerbacks in free agency
There was apparently a market for former Green Bay Packers first-round cornerback Eric Stokes, who has reportedly signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders. Based on that contract, it’s expected that Stokes will play a reserve role for the Raiders, as the going rate for starting cornerbacks in 2025 is much higher than $4 million per year.
Stokes’ career in Green Bay started off hot, seeing the cornerback earn 14 starts in his rookie season. Unfortunately, injuries started to stack up in the following seasons, leading to him playing in just 12 games over the 2022 and 2023 campaigns.
When he returned to the field healthy in 2024, the results were poor. Among the four cornerbacks who played significant snaps at outside cornerback for the Packers last season, Stokes was dead last in yards allowed per coverage snap according to NFL Pro. He started seven games, and despite Jaire Alexander’s injury, Stokes was eventually displaced by Keisean Nixon — who entered the year as the Packers’ slotback — and Carrington Valentine — who started the year on the bench — at outside cornerback.
Stokes hasn’t provided much special teams value, either. Over the last two seasons, he played just 23 special teams reps for Rich Bisaccia compared to 698 defensive snaps. Usually, backup cornerbacks have to play special teams to make the roster. Whether or not the Raiders will force him to play special teams to make their 53-man roster in 2025 has yet to be seen.
The Georgia defender played 45 total games for the Packers, making 32 starts. Famously, Stokes never recorded an interception or pass deflection in the final three seasons of his four-year rookie contract. The Packers turned down his fifth-year option, which would have kept him on their roster in 2025, back in May of last year.