The third cornerback that the Buffalo Bills should be targeting early in the draft is Eric Stokes who played three seasons for the Georgia Bulldogs. At about 6’1″ and about 185 pounds, Stokes was a three year starter for the Bulldogs and really refined his craft this past season.
Stokes recorded a total of 78 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble, 22 passes defended, and 4 interceptions with 2 of those interceptions returned for touchdowns in 31 games played as a Bulldog. Although Stokes may not have the most fluid hips and footwork in coverage, his straight line speed allows him to recover when beat on routes. Additionally, that recovery speed is a big part of his production breaking up passes at the catch point.
As I mentioned before, the Buffalo Bills will certainly have some more interest in speedy man coverage cornerbacks purely to make the secondary more multiple and less predictable. Although Stokes has plenty of experience playing as a press-man cornerback at Georgia, his closing speed on the catch point suggests that he has the traits to develop into an adequate zone coverage cornerback with the right coaching.
Currently, Stokes is projected to be a day two pick, but his stock is trending upwards quickly. Stokes recently ran an unofficial 4.25 second 40 yard dash time at Georgia’s Pro Day. This 40 time and some of the numbers he posted on other drills during his Pro Day could continue to increase his draft stock. If this is the case the Buffalo Bills may be forced to select Stokes at 30th overall if he’s someone they like.