Green Bay Packers cornerback Eric Stokes, a 2021 first-round pick out of Georgia, is now surrounded by the former Bulldogs in Green Bay and is especially excited to play with the newest addition.
After Stokes was selected in the first round of Quay Walker and Devonte Wyatt in 2022, this year the Packers added safety Javon Bullard, a second-round draft pick for 2024. Although they did not play together in Georgia, Stokes and Bullard will share this Green Bay High School itself.
Stokes said he knew Bullard well before the draft and after returning and training in Athens in the offseason. And he knows exactly what type of player the Packers are drafting.
“I love Bull,” Stokes said. “He came (to Georgia) right after me. He is a dog. He is a savage. It bounces heads. I can’t wait to be outside with him.”
Bullard’s description fits the player Georgia coach Kirby Smart once called “a little stick of dynamite.” Bullard weighs between 5 and 10 pounds and 198 pounds. He is a great hitter who looks for contact – an increasingly scarce trait in a defensive back.
Bullard is No. 20 and Stokes is No. 21, so they both sit next to each other in the Packers locker room. Stokes mentored Bullard early in his rookie season.
“He’s my locker buddy. Me and E go way back, even before I got here,” Bullard said. “He helped me tremendously, both on and off the field. This is my guy.
It’s possible the Packers will have four Georgia starters in Week 1 of 2024: Stokes at linebacker, Bullard at linebacker, Walker at linebacker and Wyatt at defensive end.
“It’s amazing. Might as well keep adding the Dogs to Green Bay,” Bullard said.
Can the Packers defense reach the elite levels so commonly achieved by Georgia’s incredibly talented defense in the collegiate ranks?
Four Bulldogs – including Bullard, the “savage” – will play a huge role in answering that question for the Packers in 2024 and beyond.
