Eric Stokes
Eric Stokes might be the poster child for the failures of the Packers’ 2021 draft class.
His career started on a promising note.
As a rookie in 2021, he played in 14 games, recording one interception, 14 pass deflections, and 55 tackles. While he wasn’t a shutdown corner, he showed enough flashes to suggest he could develop into a reliable starter.
Unfortunately, that was the peak of his career—everything since has been a steep decline.
For starters, his ball skills have completely vanished. Stokes has failed to record a single interception since his rookie season. Even more alarming is that he hasn’t deflected a single pass in his last 29 games—an almost unthinkable stat for a cornerback.
His decline isn’t just about poor technique or lost confidence—it’s also physical.
Multiple serious injuries in his second and third seasons robbed him of the elite athleticism that once made him a promising prospect.
In 2024, he finally played a full season again, but he was a shell of the player he once was. Opposing quarterbacks routinely targeted him, and he lacked the recovery speed to keep up with top receivers.
The Packers saw the writing on the wall last offseason when they declined his fifth-year option. That decision looks better by the day.
Green Bay reached for Stokes with the 29th overall pick in 2021, hoping to find a long-term playmaker in the secondary. Instead, he’s heading into free agency as a failed first-round pick, likely to move on after an underwhelming and frustrating tenure in Green Bay.