The Pittsburgh Steelers are heavily interested in Texas A&M linebacker Edgerrin Cooper and his potential, according to Ryan Fowler of the Draft Network. Cooper met with the Steelers multiple times throughout the event, and despite only being there for so long due to not participating in the week of practice itself, Cooper maintained that the Steelers were a team that stuck out in his interviews.
“I could tell they are really interested,” Cooper said to Steelers Now at the Shrine Bowl. “For sure, I think they like my game a lot.”
Pittsburgh will need a linebacker at some point this offseason. Kwon Alexander is heading into free agency off a torn Achilles while Cole Holcomb returns from major knee surgery. In a bad linebacker class, Cooper feels like the one guy who might go in the first round. But would Pittsburgh spend the 20th overall pick on Cooper after his breakout season? That would be the question to answer in this scenario, no matter how interested they are in him. The value at tackle, for example, simply might be better than that of Cooper at 20th overall.
The wording of this report is similar to one that stated that the team loves West Virginia center Zach Frazier. In reality, both of them make sense and stand out as guys who fit right into the team’s fabric and what they like to do. Cooper has a future green dot player built all over him, and his sideline-to-sideline range is no joke. And if the team wants to land an impactful linebacker, he is one of the only few guys who could boast that claim, but the draft capital investment it would take to land him is hefty. And for now, that is why I would consider this less likely than some other scenarios.
More must-reads: