The Green Bay Packers have slowly been building up their secondary over the last few years. It’s a unit that was solid through much of last year but still had gigantic missteps at inopportune times.
Jaire Alexander was a first-round pick in 2018, and has become one of the best in the business. Darnell Savage was a first-round selection in 2019 and projects to be a breakout candidate after a solid 2020 season. Green Bay attacked in free agency too, adding Adrian Amos in 2019 and re-signing Kevin King this offseason. Yet it’s the rookie first-round selection from this year, Eric Stokes, who deserves more attention.
There’s no doubt King has had his fair share of struggles, both via injury and in critical spots in big games. Some of those moments have been blown out of proportion, while others have come in highly visible spots — like Scotty Miller‘s touchdown in the NFC Championship game. Some fans rolled their eyes when the Packers re-signed King this offseason. But when they drafted Stokes in Round 1, it became apparent there could be a battle at cornerback this summer.
There’s not much, if any, pressure for Stokes to step in immediately. Most first-round corners don’t walk into a secondary with as much depth as the Packers have. But with the offseason Stokes has pieced together, along with the reviews he’s getting from coaches, his ETA onto the first line of the depth chart could be sooner than forecasted.
The former Georgia DB has spoken about the adjustments from playing in the SEC to the NFL. Stokes credits part of his success to Green Bay’s defensive backs coach, Jerry Gray.
“From the start (of OTAs), I wasn’t trusting some of the things that I was seeing,” said Stokes after Tuesday’s final open practice of organized team activities. “(Gray) is just telling me, ‘Trust it, trust it, trust it,’ so the moment I see it to go ahead and trust it and attack it.”
While other corners were taken ahead of Stokes in the first round in 2021, Gray seems more than happy that the Packers got the Georgia product.
“When you look at him, there were two other (high) draft picks really in front of him,” Gray said. “Tyson was a five-star guy who played on one corner and then (Baker) got drafted in the first round, went to the Giants, so I think he’s going to be a good football player for us. The first thing he has to do is understand how to play in this league. I think he has the attitude to do that.”
One thing that stood out in the draft process was Stokes’ speed. He ran a 4.25 40-yard dash in front of NFL scouts in the pre-draft process.
It has Packers fans giddy, and with Stokes already showing his grasp of the defensive concepts during offseason programs, there’s genuine reason to wonder how short the leash could be on someone like King, who will likely start out as Green Bay’s CB2.
While it may be a stretch to suggest there could be a camp battle for the No. 2 spot, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. At worst, Stokes can heed some of the same advice that head coach Matt LaFleur has shared with Jordan Love. “You’re always one play away,” he told him, “so prepare like a starter.”
LaFleur has been impressed with the early results. He went as far as to throw out the phrase “elite cornerback.”
“There were a couple times I saw him run through the ball and it looked easy, so that was encouraging,” LaFleur said, via ESPN. “And you know, he’s going to have to continue to work on that because he could be an elite corner in this league, no doubt about it. And when you find corners that can take the ball away, there’s nothing more valuable than that.”
It’s tough to get a grasp on offseason workouts and what developments there could mean — or if they mean anything at all. What can’t be disputed is that, at minimum, it inspires confidence to be turning in one solid performance after another like Eric Stokes has.
A lot of the starting spots in Green Bay figured to be cemented even before training camp gets going. And perhaps that’s the case at cornerback too. Alexander is the clear No. 1, and maybe King is leaps ahead for the No. 2 spot. But Stokes is coming, and it could be sooner than expected — especially if he pieces the puzzle together during training camp and the preseason.
