Justin Jefferson must be licking his chops.
The Green Bay Packers were already without top cornerback Jaire Alexander after suspending him for Sunday night’s game against the Vikings for conduct detrimental to the team. Now they’re down their top two cornerbacks.
The Packers ruled out Eric Stokes on Saturday and placed him on injured reserve with a hamstring injury a few hours later. He did not previously have an injury designation.
Stokes has already missed seven games this season with a hamstring injury and has played in just two games in the 2023 campaign: the Packers’ 34-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 17 and their 33-30 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
Stokes had five tackles in the win over Carolina and has six overall this season. The No. 29 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft has 87 tackles, 14 passes defended and one interception across his three-year NFL career.
It’s bad news for the Packers, who will now have to come up with a way to defend Jefferson without their top two cornerbacks. Jefferson missed the Vikings’ first game against the Packers when he was on injured reserve for his own hamstring injury, but in six career games against Green Bay he has 29 receptions for 478 yards and four touchdowns.
Jefferson’s best game against the Packers came last season on Sept. 11, 2022, when he had nine catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns.
