The 2023 season will be one to remember for Packers quarterback Eric Stokes. After two weeks on the bench, the 24-year-old from Georgia is slated to return to IR for the rest of the season. His 2023 season ends after three games.
Stokes, a first-round pick out of Georgia two seasons ago, is off to a strong start to his career. As a rookie, he started 14 games and missed just one. He also put up strong numbers in pass protection, recording one interception and 14 passes defensed. The second season started the same way. He started the first nine games of the season, but posted fewer stats and quarterbacks targeted him at a much lower rate.
Unfortunately, this is where the injury problems started. Stokes has been ruled out for the second half of 2022 after tests on his leg and knee injury revealed structural damage. He had to undergo knee and foot surgery in the offseason and faces a difficult road back to a starting role for promotion. Rasul Douglas vs. Jaire Alexander and Keysian Nixon, very good primary slot returners.
Stokes began the 2023 season on the reserve/physically unable to play list and was finally activated in mid-October before the team completed the trade, sending Douglas to Buffalo. Stokes might have been expected to return to a starting role, but Green Bay was certainly disappointed when Stokes was placed back on IR with a hamstring injury after four special teams performances. On the road to recovery, Stokes finally got a chance. It’s time for the Packers’ final two games.
Unfortunately for both sides, Stokes’ hamstring problem persisted, forcing the young corner back into IR as his bad luck continued gloriously. If his absence ends before next season opens, Stokes will miss 22 of 25 games with a wrist injury that started last season. Although Alexander was not named a captain for the game and was suspended by the team for violating the official coin toss, Green Bay’s stores look pretty empty.
Robert Rochelle, who is currently questionable with a neck injury, is expected to start for Nixon along with seventh-round rookies Carrington Valentine, Corey Ballentine and David Long. They will be joined by practice squad safety Benny Sapp III, who will be one of the team’s two gameday regulars on Sunday. In addition to Sapp, the Packers are expected to draft wide receiver Bo Melton.
