The drill might be overly friendly to the offense, but a 1-on-1 opportunity for Green Bay Packers receiver Romeo Doubs against ascending second-year cornerback Eric Stokes ended in another big play and impressive moment for the rookie.
According to Matt Schneidman of The Athletic, Doubs and Stokes faced off in the last rep of a 1-on-1 drill between receivers/cornerbacks and tight ends/linebackers. The result was a long touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers to Doubs, who “burned” Stokes down the sideline.
Stokes has elite speed and showed sticky coverage skills as a rookie, making Doubs’ win all the more impressive, especially considering Tuesday was the first day all players are in full pads during Packers training camp.
This is no longer shorts and helmets. Doubs keeps impressing.
He also did this to end the team period of Tuesday’s practice:
Holy moly what a grab by Romeo Doubs in the back right corner of the end zone through contested coverage during a close red-zone period. Perfect touch pass from Jordan Love and Doubs touched both feet right in front of us. Ref threw a DPI flag on Rico Gafford, too.
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) August 2, 2022
Earlier in the 1-on-1 drill, Doubs drew a holding penalty on Stokes a few reps after Stokes won a physical one-on-one against Doubs, per Andy Herman of Packer Report.
Again, one-on-ones are inherently difficult on defensive backs, who rely on leverage with routes and knowing where help of teammates is coming from on every snap of a live game environment. In very few situations is a cornerback truly 1-on-1 with a receiver. In fact, quarterbacks go through progressions attempting to single out 1-on-1 opportunities within plays. So this is definitely a drill tilted heavily toward the wide receiver.
Still, Doubs keeps making the most of his opportunities. He’s been an early and somewhat unexpected standout for the Packers through the first week of training camp.