The inconsistency of the Green Bay Packers’ pass rush of 2024 has been thoroughly dissected this off-season. It was fits and starts, and often just plain frustrating to watch. The Packers responded by drafting a pair of young pass-rushers in Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver.
But Brenton Cox Jr. might be the most interesting young commodity in the EDGE room.
The former undrafted free agent enters his third pro season with the memory of a late-season spark still bouncing around the minds of Packers fans. He barely put cleat to grass during his rookie season and was a healthy scratch last season until the team moved on from veteran EDGE rusher Preston Smith last year at the trade deadline.
From that point on, Cox was not just in the rotation, he was a key contributor who showed flashes of making good on his size and strength. The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder scored only a just-above-average 6.25 RAS (Relative Athletic Score) coming out of college, but his strength is easy to see. He’s also a large human being. And he apparently is having a strong camp thus far.
When he wore a Packers uniform last season starting in Week 10, he quickly made his presence known, with three tackles, a pair of quarterback hits and a sack in the Packers’ 20-19 win over the Chicago Bears. Over the course of his abbreviated season, he totaled 12 total tackles, four sacks and a forced fumble, while totaling seven hits of the quarterback. And that was in just 160 defensive snaps.
While the EDGE room is obviously a bit deeper than last season with the two new additions, it’s possible Cox brings a spark to that up-and-down pass rush from 2024. He sounds like a guy who has his head screwed on straight after being dismissed from not only the University of Florida but also the University of Georgia teams during his college days for acts of misconduct.
In Green Bay, it seems he’s been a model teammate. Plus, he’s been getting praise from the coaching staff, offering a hint that Cox is primed to get his share of snaps rushing off the edge this year in relief of Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness.
“He’s another guy that I’m excited to watch when we get into the preseason,” Head Coach Matt LaFleur told the media this week. “Certainly, he’s had a lot of great plays throughout the course of camp. I think he’s progressed as a rusher, as you should expect.”
Defensive Coordinator Jeff Hafley added, “I remember sitting here and we thought he deserved to play after he was really hard to block at practice. It’s just the way he is out there. He’s a physical, strong, tough guy who gives you everything that he has and he’s very disruptive.”
What Cox might do with a full season’s worth of work is yet to be seen. If the light truly has flicked on for the third-year pass rusher, who knows? But it sure sounds like he’s figuring things out and primed to be a key part of the rotation in 2025.
"Mostly just me growing within the game, knowing the game speed and everything," Cox told Packers.com after last season about his surprising leap in production. "What it takes to really beat a great offensive tackle. I'm going to work on that in the offseason, just keep it going and hopefully don't get too high, don't get too low.
He continued, "I definitely will be working this offseason to improve my play in the defense. Getting more into that attacking style that Coach Hafley likes and just improving my all-around game.”
The more difficult he is to block in practice, the more reps are likely to come. It will be fun to watch it unfold as we roll into preseason games. This oft-maligned Packers pass rush might just surprise us in 2025.