Latest news with #EricStokes
Yahoo
03-08-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Packers go risky route with their cornerback group in 2025, and it could end up being a major swing factor for the season
Packers go risky route with their cornerback group in 2025, and it could end up being a major swing factor for the season originally appeared on A to Z Sports. You could easily argue that cornerback was a need for the Green Bay Packers in the 2024 offseason. The team barely addressed it, only adding seventh-round pick Kalen King and signing Kamal Hadden to the practice squad. It was certainly a need this offseason, after the Packers lost Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes, Robert Rochell, and Corey was more investment than a year ago, but not by a lot. The Packers signed Nate Hobbs to a significant four-year, $48 million deal in free agency. Other than that, the only additions were vet minimum signing Gregory Junior and another seventh-round pick, Micah is another part of our Packers positional breakdown series. View the to see embedded media. Packers have little margin for error at cornerback Green Bay possibly adjusted its approach to the cornerback position. After spending first-round picks there with Jaire Alexander and Eric Stokes, general manager Brian Gutekunst hasn't taken one before the seventh-round since 2021. The investment in external additions isn't huge either. Publicly, Gutekunst said it was more circumstantial than planned."I don't really go in there with those kinds of priorities," the GM said after the draft. "We build our board and we try to stay true to our evaluations of it. And then we let the board come to us. Every draft class is a little bit different. It wasn't something we were gonna chase. It's important to us, adding Micah (Robinson) at the end was really, really good. He's a player we brought in here that we are pretty excited about. The board is what it is and it fell the way it fell. We feel good about our group right now, I feel the guys we have in that room got some pelts on the wall, so to speak, as far as what they've been able to do in the National Football League. We'll kinda see how it goes."However, the investment over the past few years speaks for itself. What the Packers do have Gutekunst feels comfortable with the Packers' three projected starters—and that's the idea of the weak-link system approach. Surprisingly, Carrington Valentine is the one who's had better results lately, even though the Packers probably treat Keisean Nixon and Nate Hobbs as the better options. Passer rating when targeted in 2024: Carrington Valentine 79.6 Gregory Junior 95.4 Nate Hobbs 96.3 Keisean Nixon 99.7 Gregory Junior is the only non-starter with significant NFL experience—that's where things start to get risky. The fourth cornerback on the depth chart would likely be safety Javon Bullard in the riskiest part is that Hobbs has also handled several injuries over the past few seasons. Since 2022, he's missed 16 regular season games. Backup options For the immediate backup job at cornerback, outside of Bullard, the Packers have three favorites. Even though there are no experienced options, the Packers will allow young guys to compete throughout training camp."I like our depth there. I do think between Kalen King, Kamal Hadden, and Micah Robinson, there's going to be some really good competition for the back end into that roster," Gutekunst explained to Cheesehead TV. "I'm excited to give those guys that opportunity to see." Beyond them, the roster also has Isaiah Dunn, who's been in the NFL since 2021 and signed with the Packers back in January, and undrafted rookies Johnathan Baldwin (a strong practice squad candidate due to his contract guarantees) and Tyron new additions to the group are former wide receiver Bo Melton, who was converted on a full-time basis to the defensive side after a promising experience in the rookie minicamp, and recently-signed rookie Garnett Hollis. function (event) {if ( && === 'resizeHeight') { = false); {action: 'requestHeight'}}, '*'); This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Aug 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
Scroll.in
27-06-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
For historian Jim Masselos (1940-2025), Mumbai was a city that was both his archive and his muse
In a seminal collection of essays published in 1978, the Cambridge historian Eric Stokes heralded the 'return of the peasant' in South Asian studies. He was particularly pleased to note that 'among students of the colonial revolution in South Asia the city slickers were at last quitting town'. With the benefit of hindsight, one might justifiably regard the eminent historian's celebration as premature. Recent years have seen a pronounced 'urban turn' in the study of modern South Asia. Indeed, of late, there has been a veritable flood of doctoral theses, journal articles and monographs on urban centres in the subcontinent. Significantly, Bombay has loomed large in this burgeoning historiography. Regarded as a 'totem of modern India itself', the city has attracted an ever-growing number of scholars. They have explored its evolution as the dynamo of Indian capitalism; the making and unmaking of its myriad communities; the exercise of power at different levels; the political economy of its urban infrastructure; patterns of land use and the conflicts over 'heritage'; the mutual imbrication of spaces and identities; and its contentious public culture, which has spawned the competing politics of nation, caste, class, religion and region. Yet many of these themes were first addressed by one of Stokes' younger contemporaries, who appears to have altogether ignored his pointed remarks on the future of South Asian history. For the better part of six decades, Jim Cosmas Masselos has written prolifically about Bombay, a city that has served both as his archive and his muse. In recognition of his pioneering contribution to the history of urban South Asia, the Department of History at the University of Mumbai, in association with the University of Leicester and SOAS University of London, hosted an international conference in January 2017. This volume comprises essays that were first presented on this occasion, as well as two specially commissioned contributions, by an international group of scholars whose own research has uncovered new aspects of Bombay's palimpsestic pasts. In the 1960s and 1970s, Australia emerged as a major hub for the study of South Asia. Historians were at the forefront of this Antipodean contribution to South Asian studies. At the Australian National University in Canberra, Anthony Low supervised a new generation of doctoral students in South Asian history that included, among others, Stephen Henningham, Andrew Major, Dipesh Chakrabarty, and Imran Ali. Other prominent historians of South Asia based in Australian universities included AL Basham, Hugh Owen, SN Arasaratnam, Ravinder Kumar, Richard Cashman, Peter Reeves, Ian Catanach, Michael Pearson and Marika Vicziany. Jim Masselos was part of this constellation of scholars who played a leading role in establishing and promoting South Asian history in Australia. A graduate of the University of Sydney, he first came to Bombay in 1961 on a studentship funded by the Indian government under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan. His research, supervised by Professor William Coelho at the Heras Institute of Indian History and Culture, St Xavier's College, was submitted as a doctoral thesis to the University of Bombay in 1964. The study presented a detailed account of the origins of nationalist associations in late 19th-century Bombay and Poona. A noteworthy feature of this work was its comparative approach and the close analysis of the urban context within which nationalist politics took root. Indeed, it still remains the most detailed and authoritative account of how nationalist associations emerged and evolved in colonial India. At this time, Masselos shared with many of his peers a scholarly interest in the institutional origins of early Indian nationalism. But in the following years, his research heralded a new kind of urban social history. In a series of essays published in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Masselos explored how 19th-century Bombay was made from below by a range of social actors. These writings traversed a range of themes: the world of the urban mohalla, crowds and popular culture, and the changing rhythms of everyday life in the city. Masselos's changing intellectual concerns were part of a global trend that saw social history emerge as the dominant framework through which historians tried to view the past.6 At the same time, he was deeply attentive to the specifically Indian constructions of the 'social' and the ways in which these were shaped by, and in turn helped fashion, urban spaces and identities. Importantly, too, Masselos's interest in the realm of the social did not entirely displace his longstanding interest in local constructions of power. Thus, his essays on the Muslim neighbourhood in late 19th-century Bombay showed how the mohalla was 'a field in which many kinds of forces operated and with varying degrees of intensity'. This locale could be best grasped by 'first of all concentrating upon the field in its own right and then of following such contacts as there were, not upwards so much as outwards'. By the 1980s, Masselos's interests as a historian had shifted from the realm of the neighbourhood to the Gandhian Congress's efforts towards popular mobilisation in interwar Bombay. His writings on this theme considered how the idea of the nation was forged through newly invented collective political rituals staged in urban spaces. In particular, Masselos underscored the ways in which, for the ordinary Indian residents of the city, dramatic episodes of mass protest on the streets gave a tangible identity to the nation. Importantly, too, he drew attention to the role of the urban crowd as a crystallisation of the city's protean energies. As Bombay's modern identity seemed to dissolve with the rise of archaic visions of the social in the early 1990s, Masselos's writings turned to other visions of the political that threatened to undercut its secular fabric. Thus, shortly after the 1992–93 riots in Mumbai, he published an essay that examined the first Hindu–Muslim riots in the city a century earlier and drew attention to the ways in which the urban communal riot was an ethnically territorialised phenomenon at the micro-level of the neighbourhood. 'Bombay was always an Indian city; even in the days of the Raj Bombay was never merely a white enclave surrounded by an Asiatic universe,' Masselos observed in an essay published in 1992. It was a view that stood in stark contrast to prevailing notions of the 'colonial city', which regarded it as a largely European construct in whose fashioning Indians had little or no role. In this, as in other respects, Masselos anticipated many of the arguments associated with the 'urban turn' in South Asia. A noteworthy feature of Masselos's historical writings on Bombay is his sharp awareness of the ambiguities, contradictions and tensions that structure the social worlds of the city. His essays draw on the empirical density of the archive to document how the messiness of everyday life in the city undercuts the formal conceptual categories of social scientists and theorists. Equally, he shows how no single concept or criterion could capture the reality of an urban entity as complex as Bombay. For instance, in an early essay on crowd behaviour in the city, he critiqued social science theories that sought to view the phenomenon in the developing world as a function of 'traditional' attributes and identi- ties. Thus, he argued that 'to see a society against the benchmark of ascribed criteria and even to relate it to overall cultural religious traditions, to place it entirely under such overarching conceptual umbrellas, is to do so at the cost of misunderstanding the range of group behaviour present in society'. But Masselos's suspicion of overarching theoretical categories and concepts did not stem from a dogmatic empiricism. On the contrary, he consistently developed and deployed analytical frameworks that influenced scholars who followed in his wake. For instance, in his very first monograph, Masselos identified 'encapsulation and integration' as a key dynamic in Bombay's history. 'The city has many pockets and areas, each with an identity of its own, yet each is interrelated and integrated into the wider phenomenon that is Bombay,' he observed. 'The picture that emerges is not only of many groups co-existing within the broader fabric of the city's life, but also of many kinds of groups based upon qualitatively different criteria.' In later essays, Masselos explored how Bombay has been historiographically shaped by the interplay between the formal 'defined city' and the informal 'effective city'. Indeed, he contended, 'the city defies the intentions of its masters to impose an orderly planned pattern upon it. The contrast between the habitation wishes of its population and the plans of those who formally control the shape of the city remains a constant tension in the structure of the relationships which create the urban complex.' The interaction between the formal and the informal, Masselos suggested, also gave rise to 'two levels of identification, two ideas of the urban construct'. One construed the city as an overarching entity: 'Bombay Town, Bombay city, the urbs prima in India and also Bombay the city of commerce, the city of gold'. The other derived 'not from a defined exterior but from an experienced interior'. In this latter vision, the city was perceived as 'a series of subsets, reflecting the life and living of individuals and groups within the overall urban construct'. As they moved about the city performing their daily routines, Bombay's residents constructed the city as a series of familiar spatial milieus. This was 'accustomed space', which Masselos defined as 'a perception of urban space derived through accustomed activity and accustomed time'. But there were times when accustomed space 'might become a foreign universe'. In his essay on the first major Hindu–Muslim riots in the city, Masselos offered a memorable illustration of how habitual quotidian spaces could be swiftly transformed by a cataclysmic event. Early in the afternoon of 11 August 1893, a Hindu clerk named Bhasker Madhow Sett made his way home from the Bombay Court of Small Causes. He soon learnt that the outbreak of violence at the Jama Masjid had resulted in the closure of his usual route home to Nagdevi Street. Therefore, he 'took a roundabout way, by tram to Girgaum and Grant Road and another tram towards Pydhoni'. But the spread of the riot forced him to disembark at Falkland Road. Fleeing from an enraged Muslim crowd, Madhow Sett took shelter in Gosavipura, a neighbourhood inhabited by scavengers. Two women, Chanda and Tara, came to his rescue and 'hid him for five hours under a charpoy'. But when their menfolk returned from work that evening they were enraged to find the Hindu clerk in their home. Sett prevailed on them to spare his life and help him secure a passage home. Eventually, at the suggestion of 'two elderly women', Sett disguised himself as a woman and made his way to the house of a Parsi friend in Khetwadi. This man, in turn, 'gave him another guise, that of a Parsi' and escorted him safely home. 'During his odyssey through the streets of Bombay,' notes the historian, 'Madhow Sett metaphorically changed his class and gender, to say nothing of taking on two different religions in as many hours. He penetrated what were for him unknown parts of the city, and explored depths that were equally strange.' Sett's accustomed space was transformed into a malevolent labyrinth in which danger lurked at every turn. Jim Masselos's oeuvre as a historian has been marked by four recurrent themes. First, he has documented the ways in which urban communities, far from being manifestations of primordial cultural identities, were historically reconstituted in the modern city. Second, he has shown a remarkably keen and prescient awareness of the centrality of urban space and the 'templates' through which it is perceived, represented and experienced. Third, he has highlighted how diverse forms of power, operating at different scales, have structured social relations in the city. And finally, he has also been concerned with how one form of power – nationalism – sought to acquire and exercise hegemony in the city.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Unexpected Rookie Taking First-Team Reps at Raiders OTAs
Unexpected Rookie Taking First-Team Reps at Raiders OTAs originally appeared on Athlon Sports. John Spytek is taking a different approach as the general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders. He and new head coach Pete Carroll let several big contributors leave during free agency this offseason in favor of other players. Advertisement Their decision to let both starting linebackers go and part ways with four of their five starting defensive backs was met with a bit of hesitancy from Raider Nation. However, they have built both a younger and cheaper roster than last year's four-win team, which is promising for a franchise that has long struggled. With cornerbacks Nate Hobbs and Jack Jones no longer with the Silver and Black, the team added 2021 first-rounder Eric Stokes during free agency and used a third-round pick on Iowa State's Darien Porter. Las Vegas Raiders CB Darien Porter (10).Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images Porter was seen as a bit of a project considering he switched from wide receiver to cornerback while in college. He started just seven games at cornerback for the Cyclones, but the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Vincent Bonsignore reported that he was taking first-team reps during Raiders OTAs. Advertisement "Based on the work he got in OTAs — he's been working with the first team opposite Eric Stokes — Porter is either on the fast track to a major role or the Raiders are throwing as much as possible at him to help expedite his development," Bonsignore wrote. This news is a bit unexpected considering 2023 fourth-round pick Jakorian Bennett was above-average in his starting role last season and both Stokes and Decamerion Richardson have more experience. It is no surprise, however, that the team is investing heavily in Porter because he embodies everything that Pete Carroll loves in a cornerback. At nearly 6-foot-4 with 33 and 1/8-inch arms, he has the ideal frame and physical play style that Carroll covets in a defensive back. Carroll may be throwing the rookie into the fire during OTAs and plans on implementing Bennett as a starter once he is fully recovered from his shoulder injury. However, it is also possible that Carroll found a diamond in the rough once again and the Raiders will rely on Porter heavily as a rookie. Advertisement Related: Raiders Insider Provides Update On Second-Round Pick's Contract Situation Related: Raiders Insider Leaves Door Open for Veteran CB Addition This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 7, 2025, where it first appeared.
USA Today
03-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Raiders thin positions after the draft and 10 NFL free agents who could fill them.
Raiders thin positions after the draft and 10 NFL free agents who could fill them. The date for free agent signings to count against the 2026 compensatory pick formula is over. It ended last week with the conclusion of the draft. That means teams have begun signing still available free agents knowing they won't lose out on potential comp picks for doing so. There are still some good free agents out there who could come in and offer some solid depth and competition. After going through the roster and putting together a projected 53-man roster, it became clear there are still a few positions for the Raiders that are thin. Here's the ten free agents still out there that could come in and bulk up the roster in the areas they could use it. Cornerback They signed Eric Stokes and drafted Darien Porter. Both of whom play outside cornerback. A starting nickel corner is needed and possibly depth. Mike Hilton (31) -- Best slot corner out there. Would instantly be the favorite to start in the slot. Rasul Douglas (30) -- Once on the Raiders offseason roster, but didn't make the squad. Then went on to have some of his best years in Green Bay. Would be worthy competition to start outside. Shaquill Griffin (29) -- Was a third round pick by Pete Caroll and played in a Pro Bowl in Seattle. Kendall Fuller (30) -- Has started 104 games in his career. Would be great depth with starting potential if needed. Wide receiver This may seem odd considering they spent essentially three draft picks on receivers. But that should tell you how needy they were at the position. And with several potential starters still out there, they could add someone who would be able to step in and give a couple of their rookies a chance to develop. Amari Cooper (31) -- A reunion has seemed unlikely for years. Especially after how glad he was the Raiders traded him to Dallas. But it's been a while since then, and he's in a different place in his career. He would instantly be considered the Raiders best receiver. Keenan Allen (33) -- Even at his age, he's productive. And he has a connection with Raiders WR coach, having played for him with the Chargers and then joining him in Chicago last season. Nelson Agholor (32) -- Another former Raiders receiver, he could offer value as a part time receiver and perhaps a potential bridge starter. Tyler Boyd (30) -- Basically a possession receiver at this point in his career. He would be a good depth piece. Linebacker Linebacker was a need going into the draft, even after the additions of Elandon Roberts and Devin White. The latter hasn't played his best football in recent years. Not having competition at that position would be a mistake. There aren't a lot of great options out there, but they should explore them. Kyzir White (29) -- His 137 tackles last season were the second most of his career. He and Devin White (no relation) could battle for the starting WILL LB spot. Shaq Thompson (31) -- The former first round pick has spent his entire ten-year career in Carolina. The past couple seasons have been shortened by injury. Even if he were to see part of the season, it could be worth it to take that chance.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Unpacking Future Packers: No. 14, East Carolina CB Shavon Revel Jr
The Unpacking Future Packers Countdown is a countdown of 100 prospects who the Green Bay Packers could select in the 2025 NFL draft. The Green Bay Packers are doing a mini remodel of the cornerback room at 1265 Lombardi Avenue this offseason. They lost Eric Stokes, Corey Ballentine and Robert Rochell to free agency, and Jaire Alexander's days inside that room could be numbered. Advertisement Brian Gutekunst signed Nate Hobbs to a four-year deal. The former Las Vegas Raider can play in the slot or on the boundary and gives Jeff Hafley another versatile piece in the secondary. The makeover of that room will continue during the 2025 NFL Draft, where Gutekunst will likely use a pair of picks on the position. A potential target early in the draft is Shavon Revel Jr. The East Carolina cornerback checks in at No. 14 in the Unpacking Future Packers Countdown. Revel started his collegiate career at the JUCO level before transferring to East Carolina in 2022, where he missed the beginning of the season due to a hand injury he suffered during offseason workouts. Revel enjoyed a breakout season in 2023, recording 54 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one interception and 13 pass deflections. Advertisement This past season, Revel played in three games before suffering a torn ACL. In those three games, he recorded two interceptions and two pass deflections. Standing at 6-1 with nearly 33-inch arms and an impressive track background, Revel has a unique combination of size and speed. He stands out on the gridiron. Due to that combination, Revel was No. 35 on Bruce Feldman's Annual Freaks list. From Feldman: "A former high school track standout, Revel ran a 6.90 55-meter dash time, but really got on the Pirates' wish list after he ran a 4.40 40 and broad-jumped 11 feet during a summer camp. At 6-3, 190 pounds, Revel has ideal size for an NFL corner." With his speed, Revel is able to stay attached to wide receivers on a vertical plane. He reaches his top gear quickly. He has easy change of direction skills and composed footwork to mirror receivers in coverage. He's able to stay hip-to-hip with wide receivers. If he gets beat, he has the elite recovery speed and doesn't panic when the ball is in the air. Advertisement "Revel's recovery speed and his speed breaking on the football is among the best in the class," Devin Jackson, an NFL Draft writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer said. "He's a loose, sudden athlete that often undercuts routes and beats wide receivers to the tops of their routes." Revel is opportunistic in coverage. The JUCO transfer is always looking to make a game-changing play. He does wide receiver-like things at the catch point and has outstanding body control. He's a long, athletic cornerback who did a great job of using his length to disrupt wide receivers at the catch point and at the top of their routes. "Revel never panics in coverage, even in trail technique, and it's impressive to watch him close the gap between he and the receiver downfield," Jackson said. "He's also willing to take chances in coverage, which allowed him to nab two interceptions while only playing in three games." The East Carolina cornerback doesn't back down against the run. He does a good job of coming to balance and getting his man to the ground. With his impressive wingspan, he has a wide tackle radius. According to Pro Football Focus, Revel missed four tackles during his time with the Pirates. Advertisement "He's physical as a run defender despite his slender frame," Jackson said. "He doesn't mind sticking in his nose in as run defender." Revel will also bring special teams value to the team that drafts him. He blocked two kicks during the 2023 campaign and logged 137 snaps during his first two seasons at East Carolina and recorded two tackles. Fit with the Packers Before suffering a season-ending injury, Revel was on the fast track to be a Top 15 pick. In three games, he recorded two interceptions and he would have put on a show at the NFL Scouting Combine. With his size and the speed he would have been able to showcase, teams would have been tripping over themselves to get their hands on the East Carolina cornerback. Advertisement Given that he's coming off a torn ACL and that he'll be 24 on draft night, the Packers may stray away from Revel in the first round. If he somehow slides to them in the second round, the Packers would be getting tremendous value. "The best is ahead of Revel, who showcased excellent change of direction ability and closing speed to make plays on the football," Jackson said. "He's got the skill set, length, instincts, and ball skills to be a high upside cover corner that can play both man and zone coverages. Assuming he's healthy coming off his injury, Revel has a chance to make an early impact at the NFL level." Revel checks all the boxes with his frame, athleticism and playmaking ability. He'd bring some much-needed length to Green Bay's cornerback room. If he's on the board when the Packers are on the clock in the second round, it would be a slam dunk pick for Gutekunst and the Packers. This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Unpacking Future Packers: No. 14, East Carolina CB Shavon Revel Jr
