Packers DE Brenton Cox flashes sky-high potential late in 2024 season

Paul Bretl | 2/11/2025

GREEN BAY, Wis. — The Packers’ pass rush has to improve in 2025. However, if there was a bright spot in that regard from this past season, it was the emergence of Brenton Cox, who took advantage of the opportunities he earned and progressed as the second half of the season went along.

Cox saw his first significant playing time in Week 11, right after the Packers had traded Preston Smith to Pittsburgh. In his first four games, Cox’s production as a pass rusher was modest with five pressures and two sacks during that span.

However, like any young player getting his feet wet for the first time and experiencing a significant increase in playing time, the more reps that Cox got, the more comfortable he became, and the production really began to flow at the end of the season.

“I would say mostly just me growing within the game,” said Cox about his growth last season. “Knowing the game speed and everything, how it goes, and what it takes to really beat a great offensive tackle. I’m going to work on that in the offseason, just keep it going and hopefully don’t get too high, don’t get too low, just keep working and everything going to work out.”

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From Weeks 15-17–Cox would miss Week 18 with an injury–he recorded 12 pressures and two sacks in those three games. For some context around those figures, Cox would rank tied for 10th in total pressures over that span among all defensive ends.

In addition to that, he led all defensive ends in PFF’s pass rush productivity metric, which measures how often a defender generates a pressure relative to the number of pass rush snaps they have and it is weighted more heavily towards sacks. In terms of win rate–how often are you beating the blocker across from you–Cox ranked first in that regard as well in this stretch of games, winning nearly one-third of his matchups.

“He earned the right,” said Jeff Hafley in Week 17 about Cox, “and it doesn’t surprise me what he’s doing right now, and the beautiful thing is he’s getting better, though, because he’s getting game reps, and the jump he’s made from his first game until now that he’s actually played, we keep playing him more and more and he keeps showing up. He knows what he’s doing, he’s confident in what he’s doing, and he’s playing really fast and he’s a very talented player, and I love the way he practices every day.”

In that second half of the season, Cox had firmly cemented himself as a key member of the Packers’ pass-rush rotation and had several games where he was out-snapping Lukas Van Ness in pass rush snaps, and also played the second-most pass rush snaps at defensive end in the Wildcard game, behind only Rashan Gary.

To the outside world, there may have been some unknown around what Cox was going to do with the added opportunities that came his way after the team traded Smith. Up until that point, Cox had played just five defensive snaps over one and a half seasons with the team.

But inside the building, the Packers knew what they were going to be getting from Cox because they saw it on the practice field every day, and in part, that’s what gave them the confidence to trade Smith, knowing that Cox was ready and deserving of an increased role.

“We’ve been seeing that this whole year,” said JJ Enagbare last season about Cox. “The world’s just starting to I guess see who he is, what type of player he is. I played with him the last two years here, that’s pretty much nothing new that he’s been doing out there on the Sundays. (It’s) what he’s been doing every day throughout the week. He’s just been getting the opportunity this year.”

As is the case for any player who’s still in the process of gaining experience, there is certainly still room for growth for Cox as well. This includes as a run defender, and then the consistency to replicate that late-season production over the course of a full NFL season and against the NFL’s top opponents. In the Wildcard matchup with Philadelphia, and up against a top-tier offensive line, Cox would generate just one pressure.

One of the catalysts behind Cox’s continued ascension should be the continuity of being in Jeff Hafley’s defensive system for a second year. We often hear about a Year 2 leap for players, and while Cox is entering his third NFL season in 2025, this offseason will look different than last year for him now having a defined defensive role, knowing the defensive scheme, along with being able to hone his offseason work around what he needs to specifically do in Hafley’s defense.

“I definitely be working this offseason to improve my play in the defense. Getting more into that attacking style that coach Hafley likes and just improving my all around game.”

As a collective unit last season, the Packers’ defensive front ranked 26th in ESPN’s pass rush win rate metric. The consistency at which the four-man front is able to get after the quarterback has to get significantly better this upcoming season. As I’ve said before, the ceiling for the defense will ultimately be determined by how effective the four-man rush is at getting home.

As is always the case in football, there is no one thing that will turn this unit around. The familiarity of being in Hafley’s defense for a year and that experience will be a factor. The Packers also hired DeMarcus Covington to be the new defensive line coach. We will likely see Brian Gutekunst make an addition or two along the defensive front in the draft, given how deep that position group is and the players need to execute more consistently as well.

But now also a part of that equation is Cox. A year ago at this time we wondered if he could carve out a role on the defense. Now, I think the better question is, how big of a role is Cox going to have in 2025?

“Get stronger, faster, and more in tune with my pass rush so I can help the team more and make those plays that we need in games like that,” said Cox on where he wants to improve heading into the new season.

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