GREEN BAY, Wis. – When he played, Edgerrin Cooper was exceptional. As he enters Year 2, the Green Bay Packers’ linebacker appears to be a budding star.
At The Athletic, he was named Green Bay’s breakout candidate, although Packers beat writer Matt Schneidman acknowledged the two-time Defensive Player of the Week, December/January Defensive Player of the Month and All-Rookie selection might have broken out already.
“Cooper can rush the passer and cover, and he should hardly come off the field when healthy after battling injuries and learning defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s system last season,” Schneidman wrote.
Breakout or not, Cooper should become one of Green Bay’s top defenders and most important players. As a second-round pick last year, Cooper played only 45.1 percent of the defensive snaps.
Cooper missed a chunk of training camp, which played a role in him earning only a meager role to start the season. It took until the sixth game of the season for him to play even 40 percent of the defensive snaps. He was in the ballpark of two-thirds playing time for the next several weeks before missing three games with a hamstring injury. Upon his return, he was given a similar role. Finally, in Game 16 against Minnesota and Game 17 against Chicago, he played more than 90 percent of the snaps.
Ultimately, Cooper’s production was too big to ignore. He led the entire rookie class and all NFL linebackers with 13 tackles for losses even though he played more than 41 snaps in only three games all season.
Even while averaging 35.1 snaps in his 14 games, Cooper ranked sixth on the team with 77 tackles, first with 13 TFLs, fifth with four passes defensed, fifth with 3.5 sacks and tied for second with four turnover plays (one interception, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries).
Bigger things are expected – pardon the pun.
Usually, salary is a big factor in my Packers roster rankings. Not in this case. At No. 3 is the player who could be the game-wrecking defender the #Packers have lacked since Clay Matthews and Charles Woodson. The stats last year are astounding.⬇️https://t.co/U6LXeH2kIt
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 11, 2025
Coach Matt LaFleur noted how Cooper had gotten bigger during the offseason while keeping his explosive athleticism.
“He’s just so much more confident,” LaFleur said during OTAs. “Certainly, his body looks different. I don’t know if you guys could tell, but he’s like 240 pounds right now. There was a time when we came back last year when he was like 220. So, the added weight, and he still looks like he’s moving as good as he did a year ago. So, I’m really excited about him. His understanding of the detail of what he’s supposed to do and those around him, I think are going to allow him to play that much faster, which is pretty exciting.”
Cooper said part of his offseason focus was “eating right.”
“I just wanted to feel powerful,” he said. “I felt like the explosiveness was there, but there ain’t no problem being a little bit bigger as long as you can move the same. That’s how I felt about it.”
Cooper made one tackle after another because of instincts and athleticism. With a year of experience, he should be an every-down player for defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
“We talked and sometimes joked about he might’ve had that gap, but he made the play over there, right? Like, there was a toss run over there that instead of going over the top of the blocker, somehow he ran underneath the blocker and still made a TFL,” Hafley said.
“Now, it’s getting the details down. Now, it’s lining up exactly where he needs to line up and doing it over and over and over again because then he’s going to show up faster and he’s going to make more plays and he’s going to become a more consistent player.”
Among the NFC North choices are Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold, who figures to play a pivotal role against Green Bay’s remodeled passing attack. Wrote beat writer Colton Pouncy:
“He played the most man coverage snaps of any corner in the league as a rookie, and while there were growing pains, Arnold ended better than he started. Coaches believe it’ll set him up for a big jump in Year 2.”
Our 90-to-1 #Packers roster countdown includes features on all 90 players on the roster. Hopefully, you learn something about every player on the team. ⬇️https://t.co/ADQhLbecCH
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) July 13, 2025