Acme Packing Company
Edgerrin Cooper was the most exciting man on the Packers’ defense in 2024.
The Packers introduced him into the lineup slowly last season, but every glimpse was tantalizing. And when they finally turned him loose, he was everything fans — and defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley — could have hoped for. He was fast, aggressive and made plays for the Packers left and right.
It wasn’t just fans that noticed his success. Despite starting just four games and logging just 491 snaps, Cooper received an All-Pro vote and finished sixth in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. Even in his limited sample size, Cooper made an impression.
This year, a bulked up Cooper seemed poised to build on his rookie year success. But it hasn’t quite worked out that way.
Cooper’s splash plays have all but evaporated. Through 11 games, Cooper has managed just half a sack and two tackles for loss. In 14 games last year, Cooper had 3.5 sacks and 13 tackles for a loss. His Pro Football Focus grades, while admittedly not an ironclad measure of success, have declined across the board — he’s putting up worse numbers in every category PFF tracks. And he’s already equalled the 14 missed tackles he posted last year, though to be fair he’s already played more snaps than he did all of last season.
This isn’t to say Cooper’s been playing badly. I don’t think that’s a fair characterization of the situation. He’s been just fine in an overall solid Packers defense, one that has changed around him over the last year even as Cooper himself has changed.
Cooper’s opportunities as a pass rusher have declined significantly this year. According to PFF data, Cooper logged 56 pass rushes in 549 total defensive snaps. Put differently, he was chasing quarterbacks on roughly 10% of his defensive snaps as a rookie. This year, he’s rushed the passer on just 45 of 706 defensive snaps, or just a little over 6%. Cooper’s numbers may be down, at least as a pass rusher, because the Packers aren’t using him the same way.
Again, Cooper isn’t playing badly. But the way he’s being used this year is diminishing his impact. In some ways it’s nice that they can use him how they are — you don’t need to blitz Cooper when you have Micah Parsons up front doing Micah Parsons things. But if the Packers are going to make a deep playoff run, they need Cooper at his playmaking peak, and that might mean changing his usage just a bit as the Packers come down the home stretch.
