Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper made quite an impression in his rookie season. The second-round pick out of Texas A&M earned All-Rookie Team honors despite starting just five games and playing just 55 percent of the Packers defensive snaps in the 14 games he played. Still, Cooper returned to OTAs this offseason ready to improve upon his strong showing in 2024.

Packers LB Edgerrin Cooper Working Hard to Be Better In Year Two: His Rookie Season

Cooper started his rookie campaign slowly but saw more playing time as the season progressed. The coaching staff seemed reluctant to let him take more snaps as he was still making some rookie mistakes on assignments.

Still, whenever Cooper was on the field, he was making plays. He finished the season with 87 total tackles including 3.5 sacks and 13 tackles for loss. He also forced a fumble, recovered two and broke up four passes.

Cooper made an immediate impression on his veteran teammates. “He’s special, man,” defensive end Kingsley Enagbare during the second half of the 2024 season. “From the stat line, you can see he can do everything, make tackles, make interceptions, get the sacks. There’s literally nothing he’s physically not able to do. The sky’s the limit for him. He’s going to be a hell of a player one day – or continue to be a hell of a player.”

However, injuries slowed Cooper at times last season. He missed three games and was limited in a few others as a result. The Packers were hoping he would return this season and do all he could to minimize the possibilities of injuries.

The Offseason

The Packers recently held a round of voluntary OTAs after the 2025 NFL Draft. When the team’s coordinators addressed the media last week, defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley mentioned Cooper and noticed a difference in him since the end of last season. One difference is weight. Cooper put on about 11 pounds since the Packers playoff loss to the Eagles.

“When you see him now, he looks different. I mean, he’s bigger now,” Hafley told reporters. “He’s got to be close to 240 pounds. And this year two for him, he knows what it’s going to take. He knows what he has to do now to stay healthy. He was injured quite a bit, where he missed a lot of time and couldn’t practice and couldn’t play. Now he knows what it’s going to take to stay healthy in this long season. You can tell he’s dedicated that time into caring for his body and changed his body and now when you sit with him in that room it’s, I mean, he’s locked in, and he’s focused. Now he knows what he’s doing.”

The added weight should help Cooper avoid some wear and tear on his body and to stay healthier. It should also help him take on blockers at the point attack, hopefully without sacrificing his speed and explosiveness.

Packers LB Edgerrin Cooper Working Hard to Be Better In Year Two: Looking Ahead

Now, Hafley hopes to see Cooper improve in certain areas, including, “Consistency. We talked, and sometimes joked, about [how] he might’ve had that gap, but he made the play over there, right?” Hafley explained. “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. 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.”

Cooper can team with veteran Quay Walker to give the Packers a pair of athletic off-ball linebackers who can drop back in coverage, stop the run, or pressure the quarterback.

If Cooper can manage to make better reads and combine that with his outstanding playmaking ability, he has the potential to develop into a Pro Bowl player as soon as this coming season. The key now is for him to do it.

 

 

 

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