The Las Vegas Raiders came under fire for their decision to completely revamp the cornerback room this offseason. After having a strong enough defense in 2023 and 2024, the team parted ways with all three starters: Nate Hobbs, Jakorian Bennett and Jack Jones.
In their place, the team brought in Eric Stokes, a reclamation project, and they took Darien Porter in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, who had some major developing to do. They were also banking on big jumps from Kyu Blu Kelly and Decamerion Richardson, who were holdovers from last year.
Through the first four weeks of the 2025 NFL season, however, the cornerback room has been the least of the Raiders’ worries. Stokes has developed into a No. 1 cornerback, Kelly has been fairly solid, and Porter is showing promise in limited snaps.
Raiders fans can’t believe this ridiculous Eric Stokes trade idea
On Wednesday, Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame came up with one trade that each team in the NFL should seek before November’s trade deadline. Raiders fans can only laugh as Stokes was the proposed target for the Jacksonville Jaguars, at the price of a measly seventh-round pick.
“The Jaguars are playing well defensively, having forced a league-high 13 turnovers through four weeks. Still, the corners beyond Tyson Campbell have some questions, and adding a talented 2021 first-rounder in Stokes, who has played in 49 games, at a low cost, is smart for first-year general manager James Gladstone,” Verderame wrote “Playing on a one-year, $1.5 million base-salary deal, Stokes could help Jacksonville’s playoff pursuit while giving the Jaguars time to decide if they want him for the long term.”
Obviously, this would be a great trade for the Jaguars. Unfortunately for them, there is not a chance in the world that Pete Carroll and John Spytek would sign off on this. Trading away the top cornerback on your team for a seventh-rounder is unthinkable, so it is clearly a non-starter.
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Stokes has been a revelation for the Las Vegas secondary. Over the last three weeks, he has given up just a single reception on six targets with three passes defended. This includes no catches on four targets in the last two weeks and a quarterback rating of 39.6 when targeted.
In general, the Raiders trading away some of their remotely valuable veteran pieces makes sense in a season that most are already considering lost. But there is still time to salvage their campaign, and trading away a still-young cornerback playing his best football is just senseless.
Although he may not be a big name, which drives his trade value down to some people, Stokes is a big part of what Las Vegas is building. He is worth far more than a seventh-round pick and may even get a small extension from the front office if he continues to play at this level.
