Packers rookie follows path to make an immediate impact

When the Green Bay Packers took linebacker Edgerrin Cooper in the second round of the draft, the immediate expectations among fans and analysts was that he would be a starter from day 1 alongside Quay Walker. But even though the Packers gave a lot of playing time for rookies on offense last year, young players still have to earn reps and snaps in Green Bay.

During OTAs and mandatory minicamp, for example, Cooper has practiced with the twos. Even in base defense, the starting group of linebackers has veterans Quay Walker, Isaiah McDuffie, and Eric Wilson. Meanwhile, Cooper is trying to individually improve and understand how the NFL world works to be ready when an opportunity comes.

"Just going over your rules," Cooper said of his priorities. "Even drawing stuff up and writing down what each guy's got, putting the puzzle together. Quizzing yourself, going from there and back to your notes, and putting it all in your head so it's all second nature."

Physically, there's little doubt how impactful Cooper can be. Head coach Matt LaFleur mentioned a play on Wednesday, the last practice of the mandatory minicamp, in which the rookie identified the offensive action so effectively that the coach asked the defensive assistants if they shared the practice script with the linebacker.

This shows a mental development as well. But, for LaFleur, it has to keep between minicamp and training camp, more than a month away from now.

"They have to stay in the playbook," LaFleur pointed out. "A lot of this information is new to them, and if you don't use it, you're going to lose it. You can't go and get too far away from it."

But at the same time, when asked about Cooper and fellow second-round pick, the safety Javon Bullard, LaFleur praised their effort.

"We've seen improvement from them each and every day," LaFleur added. "It's not only improvement on the field, it's doing all the little things the right way. That's part of that learning curve."

Impact

You can probably count on one hand the off-ball linebackers who are real difference-makers in the NFL. And that happens because in today's game, it's a varied and wide range of tasks to achieve at a high level. And if you can't, offenses will certainly expose it.

The good news for Edgerrin Cooper is that he has done it. In 2023, his last season at Texas A&M, he had an 87.6 run defense grade, 86.4 pass rush grade, and 85.5 pass coverage grade according to PFF. He was the only linebacker in college football with 85+ grades in all categories.

He lasted until the second round because he's instinctive but probably can't play as a middle linebacker, and also the value of the position is limited nowadays, but the Packers trust the new coaching staff can elevate his usefulness and extract more out of his performance.

Everything is still a process for Edgerrin Cooper, though. First, he has to get more opportunities and earn reps with the ones. Then, he can start to show what he can really be. And training camp will be a big part of this process.