Let's turn back the clock a little over a year, back to when the Las Vegas Raiders were attempting to cobble their secondary together with whoever they could find. They took a chance on Eric Stokes, signing him to a cheap one-year deal.
He outplayed his contract by a mile, emerging as a bright spot on a disaster of a team and earning a three-year, $30 million deal this offseason. It looked like the Raiders had fostered the perfect comeback story at one of their greatest positions of need.
But just five games into that new contract, it's already aging poorly. Stokes has lost the momentum he built in 2025, leaving his $30 million deal looking like an overpay.
Raiders have an Eric Stokes problem on their hands
Per SumerSports, Stokes has allowed 1.12 yards per coverage snap this season, which ranks 68th among qualifying cornerbacks. He hasn't produced a pass deflection or an interception yet.
Nobody was particularly impressive for the Raiders in the Week 5 loss to the New England Patriots, but Stokes may have had his worst game of the year. He allowed catches on both of the passes thrown his way and was penalized twice.
His PFF coverage grade of 37.9 this season is the seventh-worst among 83 qualifying cornerbacks. While PFF grades certainly don't tell the whole story, his lack of positive impact for the Raiders' defense this year has been concerning.
Stokes has been outplayed by rookie fifth-round pick Hezekiah Masses, who has already logged three interceptions this year. But even Masses has struggled on a down-to-down basis, allowing touchdowns in each of the last two games.
Without a cornerback playing at a high level, the Raiders are relying solely on their pass rush to slow down their opponents' passing attacks. Despite pressuring the quarterback at a top-ten rate, they rank 25th in the league in both EPA per pass and passing success rate.
In Week 5, the Raiders allowed 0.8 EPA per pass. For context, that's more than double the EPA per pass averaged by each of the last four MVP quarterbacks.
It's hard to criticize the Raiders for extending Stokes. At the time, they didn't really have another option. But the failure to add another starting-caliber cornerback to the roster has left them with a porous pass defense early in the season. He's certainly not playing up to his $30 million contract so far.
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