Eric Stokes selected in the first round of the NFL Draft
By Keith Farner
Published:
With much of the news on Thursday revolving around Aaron Rodgers’ unhappiness in Green Bay, the Packers went defense for their first pick of this year’s NFL Draft.
Eric Stokes, a Georgia cornerback, was taken No. 29 overall by the Packers.
Stokes is the fastest player in the 2021 NFL Draft class. He ran a 4.25-second time he ran in the 40-yard dash at Pro Day. Stokes also showed explosiveness with a 38.5-inch vertical jump and a 130-inch broad jump at the Georgia Pro Day in March.
Stokes was a first-team All-SEC pick by the Associated Press, and he started at cornerback in all 10 regular-season games. He finished with 20 total stops, four interceptions, four pass breakups and three QB pressures, and was second in the SEC with four interceptions.
Stokes, a converted running back, didn’t begin playing cornerback in on a regular basis until his senior season of high school.
Stokes is one of coach Kirby Smart’s top developmental stories, as he came to UGA as the lowest-ranked player in the team’s 2017 signing class and later redshirted that season.
“(Stokes) was a hard-hosed, get-better player,” Smart said, per Dawg Nation. He had a long way to go, but by his redshirt freshman year, he came on … “
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
