The Raiders were not even contenders last season. They hardly put four wins in the column, so what do you do when your team is stuck in neutral? The answer is: you fix the loopholes. The Raiders started by bringing in new head coach Pete Carroll, with Tom Brady dishing out advice like he did in his yesteryears on the gridiron.

And, of course, when you have someone on board who has seven Super Bowl rings, why not give him a little more command over team affairs?

So now, Pete Carroll, Tom Brady, and GM John Spytek have brought fresh energy to Vegas. After solving their QB puzzle, the team trusts Geno Smith. On Monday, the team signed Panthers CB Lonnie Johnson Jr. to replace Nate Hobbs. But if you think their CB depth is complete with Lonnie, you are mistaken.

So, after the Packers sent the flight tickets to Nate Hobbs, the Raiders invited their 2021 first-round pick to Vegas. Pete Carroll is building strong CB depth, and the new addition is Georgia alumnus Eric Stokes.

On Tuesday, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that the Packers’ CB Eric Stokes is joining the Raiders squad for a year. “The Raiders are adding more on defense, as they are set to sign former Packers first-round CB Eric Stokes on a 1-year, $4M deal, source said.“

Green Bay declined their 2021 first-round draft pick an extension last year, probably because he struggled with injuries. Eric missed most of the 2023 season as he dealt with a hamstring injury. So, when his $11.9M contract with the team expired, he hit the free market. It’s a natural sporting process, we see. Stokes is the second CB the Raiders have picked from free agency after Lonnie Johnson.

At first, the rumor mill went around about the Vikings’ Pro Bowl CB Byron Murphy. However, the Vikings re-signed a three-year extension with their CB worth a $66M deal.

So, after boosting their CB depth chart, the team also received a boost from the NFL for the upcoming drafts.

Pete Carroll’s draft strategy gets a boost

After free agency, the draft is what everyone’s waiting for. The new class will come in, and this year’s draft looks gripping as it’s not just the quarterback class making headlines. Non-QBs Abdul Carter and Tyler Hunter are making even more noise. The league has also announced the compensatory picks for this year. Compensatory picks are based on last year’s free agency. This time, the league awarded 35 comp picks to 15 different teams.

Just in case you are wondering, the organizers use a formula to give out these picks. That formula considers the number of players a franchise has lost and gained in last season’s free agency. So, if your team loses more critical players, the league helps to make up for that loss with these extra picks. It also depends on how those lost players performed with their new team.

So, this year, Pete Carroll and the Raiders are awarded two extra draft picks in the sixth round. The sixth-round picks are not exactly lottery tickets, but who doesn’t love a little draft-day wheeling and dealing?

Last season, the Raiders lost RB Josh Jacobs to the Packers and OT Jermaine Eluemunor to the Giants. Now, they will get compensatory picks to make up for that.

Coach Pete now has nine total picks in the 2025 draft, with three in the sixth round and one in each of the other rounds. It will be interesting to see how Carroll, Brady, and John Spytek play with these picks.