Levi Edwards

Eric Stokesreturned to form in 2025 after years of battling injuries since his dynamic rookie campaign in 2021.

In NFL.com's annual"unsung heroes" of the seasonlist, senior news writer Kevin Patra identified Stokes as the Raiders' most overlooked contributor. While Patra admittedly couldn't identify many positive factors from the team's 3-14 season, he believes the numbers tell the story behind a sneaky lockdown year for the cornerback.

"Stokes, however, had a mostly positive campaign in coverage, recording a completion percentage over expected o -8.4 percent while allowing a single touchdown and generating five PBUs," Patra wrote. "His 9.3 yards per catch allowed ranked in the top 11 among corners, per PFF. Among Raiders secondary defenders, Stokes led the squad in passer rating allowed (76.9), per NGS, giving up 0.6 yards per snap (tied for first lowest among all corners in the NFL, min. 200 coverage snaps)."

After leading the Green Bay Packers in pass deflections (14) his rookie season, Stokes missed 22 games over his next two seasons due to injuries. The Packers declined his fifth-year option on his rookie contract, leading to the cornerback signing with the Silver and Black this past March. He started 16 games this year and held opposing quarterbacks to a 56.7 completion percentage and a 77.7 passer rating.

"It's been a stressful past four years," Stokessaid earlier this month. "It's been a long four years of just working and working and praying for results. Now I'm back to feeling good, it's just about coming here day in and day out and not taking anything for granted. When you get the game taken away from you, there's a lot of little things that mean more to you."