Paul Bretl | 10/8/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — A few weeks ago prior to the Packers Week 3 matchup with the Tennessee Titans, defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley mentioned that they needed to find a way to get rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper more snaps. Since then, he’s taken on a larger role within the defense.
“We’re starting to find out there’s certain things that he does really well, and we need to take advantage of that,” said Hafley prior to Week 3.
After playing just 18 combined snaps in Weeks 1 and 2, Cooper would play 18 snaps against Tennessee. He then played 21 against Minnesota and a career-high 30 this past Sunday versus Los Angeles.
In part, the ramp-up period for Cooper was needed because of all the valuable practice time he missed during training camp, which also resulted in him not playing in any of the preseason games. This put Cooper behind to a degree. While knowing the playbook and how the answers to questions in the meeting room are important, there is no substitute for applying that information in real-time on the football field–and that’s the element that was missing for Cooper for a long period of time.
“It was a real challenge,” said Cooper about not playing in the preseason. “It’s hard to play football without actually being able to practice and going out there and getting reps and seeing what I see and preparing for each team. Coming back was one of the best things that could happen. Just a challenge I had to attack.”
Cooper’s increased workload in recent weeks has come from both Isaiah McDuffie and Eric Wilson’s share of playing time. In recent weeks, Cooper has taken more of the nickel linebacker snaps next to Quay Walker, and what started out as a timeshare with Wilson as the third linebacker when in the base 4-3 defense has now primarily shifted to Cooper taking just about all of those snaps.
As is the case with any rookie, especially one that has missed time, there is going to be a learning curve and some growing pains that take place as the game unfold. We saw this in Week 1 against the Philadelphia Eagles where a missed alignment by Cooper led to a big play for Saquon Barkley.
However, the best teacher is experience, which Cooper is getting more of each week, and it’s also clear as day when he’s on the field that he brings a different element to the Packers’ linebacker position with his explosiveness and elite speed.
“Man, flying around,” said Quay Walker of Cooper. “I’m just happy with where he’s at right now. I pray that he continues to grow. He’s going to be a real, real special talent that we’re going to need along the way during this season.”
Running a 4.51-second 40-yard dash during the pre-draft process, that type of speed brings an added coverage ability at linebacker and can allow Cooper to close gaps in the run game quickly or get side-to-sideline with relative ease. In coverage, he is holding opposing pass-catchers to under 9.0 yards per reception and ranks 26th out of 87 eligible linebackers in PFF’s run-stop rate.
But where Cooper has made his biggest impact in the early going is as a blitzer–just as we saw him do in college at Texas A&M.
On just nine pass-rush snaps this season, according to PFF, Cooper has generated three pressures, including two sacks. Out of all linebackers through five games, Cooper ranks 10th in pass rush productivity, an efficiency metric from PFF that combines sacks, hits, and hurries relative to many times the player rushes the quarterback.
“Yeah, it’s certainly impactful,” said Matt LaFleur of Cooper’s ability to blitz. “He has just got a way of wrapping … when we’re running some of those stunts in front of him, and he’s wrapping around some of those stunts, he just wraps so tight end fast and gets there in a hurry. And usually those take a little bit longer than traditional blitzes if you’re just sending somebody through a gap.”
With each passing week, as Cooper continues to take advantage of these opportunities, presumably his role on defense is going to continue to grow. But an important part of that equation is staying healthy. Although he’s appeared in all five games, he’s popped up on the injury report this season and been limited in practice at times, limiting the number of very valuable practice reps that he still needs.
“He is a dynamic athlete who is highly instinctual and is physical,” said Hafley last Thursday. “It’s just like we’ve talked about, he missed the preseason, right? Now he’s kind of been in and out, we need to go. He needs to be healthy, he needs to practice, and we need him to play and I’m excited about that when it happens.”