Just one year after he heard his name called early on night two of the draft, it already looks like the investment has paid major dividends for GM Brian Gutekunst.
Coming off a promising rookie season, Edgerrin Cooper enters year two with a more defined role, a growing comfort in the speed of the NFL, and an even bigger opportunity to showcase the traits that made him one of the most intriguing linebackers in his class.
At Texas A&M, Cooper was known for his athleticism and ability to erase space in a hurry, which translated seamlessly to Green Bay in year one.
Even as a young player on campus looking to find ways to earn snaps, his range stood out on special teams, where his pursuit angles and burst made him a weapon on coverage units. But as his defensive snaps arrived and the years progressed, it became clear just how disruptive he could be when given freedom to fly to the football.
He's really the archetype at the position in today's NFL. Few linebackers in the league can blend speed, length, and physicality the way Cooper does at 6-foot-2, 230 pounds. His coverage ability -- particularly against tight ends and running backs -- is rare for a young 'backer.
At his size with long arms and fluid hips, he’s capable of matching stride-for-stride and making plays at the catch point. Combine that with his willingness to arrive with pop as a tackler, and it’s easy to see why Packers brass, led by Gutekunst, believe he can become a centerpiece of their defense, and a headlining face among LBs in the game today.
Packers' trade for Micah Parsons can help Edgerrin Cooper reach new heights in Year 2
The biggest development for Cooper this offseason, however, is the arrival of Micah Parsons in Green Bay. The Packers shocked the football world when they acquired Parsons from Dallas, immediately reshaping the identity of their front seven and raising expectations towards just how good Green Bay could be in 2025 after making the playoffs last fall.
For Cooper, it's a gift.
With Parsons commanding double teams and dictating protections off the edge, linebackers inside will face cleaner looks and more freedom to flow to the football. Cooper’s speed allows him to mirror Parsons’ aggression — if Parsons crashes off the edge, Cooper has the range to scrape over the top and close running lanes.
If offenses keep extra bodies in to account for Parsons’ rush, Cooper becomes the beneficiary of more advantageous coverage matchups and could also see isolated work against linemen as a blitzer.
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For defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, he now has the luxury of creativity. Cooper and Parsons can be aligned side by side on pressure looks, forcing quarterbacks to slide protections while exposing mismatches. They can also play a complementary role in zone schemes, where Parsons’ burst as a blitzer pairs with Cooper’s ability to drop into coverage seamlessly.
That versatility is what makes the duo potentially special: Parsons wrecks games with his chaos, while Cooper erases mistakes with his range. And with better players around him (see Zack Baun in Philadelphia), the performance ceiling is truly uncapped for the second-year defender.
For years, Green Bay has searched near and far for productive and consistent linebacker play to pair with a youth-infused defensive line. In Cooper, they may have found not only a solution, but a player on the brink of becoming a star of his own.
His year-two leap could be rapid — not just in raw production, but in the way he ties the Packers defense together. On a unit that’s now overflowing with speed and explosiveness, Cooper’s ability to diagnose and finish plays can be the difference between a good defense, and one of the NFL’s elite.
They drafted him to be a tone-setter, and with his natural athleticism, coverage chops, and newfound pairing with Parsons, he has every tool to become one of the league’s top young green dots.