John Spytek’s first year with the Las Vegas Raiders as general manager has been a divisive topic—but there’s one move he did get right.
In a season defined by chaos and weekly futility, the Raiders finally have a storyline that breaks the gloom. Eric Stokes, signed as a low-risk flier, has become one of the few moves Spytek can point to without bracing for backlash.
This was not supposed to be the year Stokes resurfaced as a top-end cover corner. The résumé entering this season did not invite optimism. Injuries in Green Bay had derailed his trajectory, robbed him of speed bursts that once made him a first-round pick and reduced him to a question mark rather than a solution. The Raiders, short on cap space and long on needs, gambled anyway.
The result has been one of the league’s sharpest bargains. Stokes has not merely stabilized a secondary stretched thin by roster churn and inconsistent safety play; he has elevated it. His 72.3 Pro Football Focus coverage grade ranks 16th among qualified corners. His efficiency numbers are even more jarring: top two in snaps per target and snaps per reception, and fourth among all cornerbacks in WAR. Those are not “bounce-back” metrics. Those are CB1 metrics on a roster that desperately needed them.
The more revealing piece, however, is the shift in the room. Patrick Graham’s assessment was telling. Stokes has become the adult voice in a young secondary, a player whose constant dialogue about formations, splits and tendencies has forced everyone else to raise their standard. Production matters, but culture often starts in the meeting rooms. Stokes, quietly and consistently, has become the player this staff wished more veterans would emulate.
The Raiders GM deserves some credit…
Spytek deserves credit not merely for landing a reclamation project, but for identifying a player whose value extends beyond Sundays. Stokes has delivered competent coverage, veteran steadiness and a stabilizing presence in a defense dragged through weekly turmoil—the product of scouting and calculated risk, not luck. On a 2-13 roster, it is easy to overlook the few wins hiding in plain sight, yet Stokes embodies the vision this front office claimed to bring: smarter bets, cleaner fits and higher football IQ.
In a season where almost nothing has worked, the Raiders finally found a piece worth keeping.
*Top Photo: Getty Images