The Las Vegas Raiders haven’t had many success stories this season, but cornerback Eric Stokes is one of them. The Raiders took a flyer on him in free agency, signing Stokes to a one-year, 3.5 million deal, and he’s turned out to be a bright spot in a mostly bad secondary.
Stokes certainly has the athletic chops to play well. He’s a former first-round pick, and he was selected by the Green Bay Packers. But Stokes has had trouble staying healthy, and according to a story written by Aaron Schatz of ESPN, he played only 12 games in 2022 and 2023.
He struggled when he got back on the field in 2023, hence the Raiders flyer. Stokes was targeted a lot, and he ended up ranking 70th out of 93 cornerbacks, based on Defense-adjustted Value Over Average (DVOA).
This year has been a very different story. Stokes has had a 65 percent success rate in coverage, and he’s allowed just 4.3 yards per reception when he’s targeted. Those stats make him one of the league’s top cornerbacks, which is especially surprising given the low expectations.
Predicting whether that success will continue is difficult indeed. Stokes is playing on a bad team that’s going nowhere, and the Raiders secondary has already been lit up a couple of times in recent weeks, most notably by quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the Kansas City Chiefs' 31-0 shutout win over the Raiders.
It would be easy enough for opposing quarterbacks to avoid targeting stokes, especially given the struggles of Kyu Blu Kelly, who’s been wildly inconsistent. But there are going to be days when the better offenses simply get it going and go wild in the passing game, and this week’s Monday nighter against the Dallas Cowboys might be one of them.
Stokes is also something of a ‘tweener when it comes to the Raiders decision to keep him around. He’s 26, and Stokes will undoubtedly hit the market looking for more money. If he wants top corner money, the Raiders may simply move on from him given how much work this roster needs.
There’s also the coordinator issue to consider. Current DC Patrick Graham has gotten inconsistent results from his unit, which is understandable given how bad the offenses has been at times. But it’s hard to see Pete Carroll coming back at this point, and Stokes himself may want to move on given the team’s record and the inherent instability in the Raiders situation right now.