Edgerrin
Cooper.
Edgerrin
Cooper.
Texas A&M· 6'2"· 230 lb· 4.51s 40
"The most explosive linebacker in the class and the least disciplined one, taken at 45 by a team that decided it would rather coach the recklessness out than teach the speed in."Pre-draft read
Downhill trigger linebacker who played every snap like the ball was already his. Texas A&M lined him up at weak-side backer and used him as a designed pressure element: he reads the guard, picks a gap and arrives before the pull gets there. The burst from first step to contact is the trait — he covers ground laterally that most 230-pound backers cannot.
The second trait is blitz timing. His 2023 sacks came mostly on delayed A-gap and edge pressures where he read protection late and hit the seam untouched. In coverage he carries tight ends up the seam and matches backs in the flat. The signature is speed with intent: he does not just run to the football, he runs through the blocker's outside shoulder to get there.
Attacking one-gap four-man front that lets the weak-side backer run downhill and rush from designed pressure looks.
Year 1: sub-package run-and-chase backer and designed pressure element. Ceiling: All-Pro three-down Will who calls the defense.
A two-gap 3-4 that asks him to stack and shed a guard at the point of attack and hold his landmark on every snap.
His value collapses when the scheme asks him to be patient instead of decisive.
Edgerrin Cooper 2023 Full Season Highlights | Texas A&M LB
All-America junior year: the tackles for loss, the delayed blitzes and the sideline-to-sideline range.
Edgerrin Cooper Full 2024 Rookie Season | Packers Highlights
PFWA All-Rookie season in Green Bay, including both NFC Defensive Player of the Week performances.
Packers Rookie Edgerrin Cooper Film Review
All-22 breakdown of his run fits, blitz timing and coverage reps as a rookie.
Cooper was the most explosive linebacker in the 2024 class and also the most volatile. He is a 6-2, 230-pound weak-side backer whose game is built on range, closing burst and the willingness to attack blocks rather than absorb them. He plays fast and he plays angry, and both of those things show up on tape in equal measure.
The production curve tells the story. He was a special-teams body as a freshman, took over as a starter in 2022 with 61 tackles, and then broke out in 2023 with 84 stops, 17 tackles for loss and 8.0 sacks in twelve games — an All-America season in the SEC. But the same aggression that produced those numbers also produced missed fits: he would shoot the wrong gap chasing a run-through, get sealed by climbing linemen, and take angles that turned a four-yard gain into fifteen when he guessed wrong.
Boards had him as a top-50 player with a wide band. Teams that valued the athletic ceiling and the pressure package put him in the first round; teams that wanted a linebacker who could be trusted on early downs pushed him toward the third. Green Bay took him at 45 with a clear plan: let him rush, let him run, and coach the discipline later.
- 01
Closing burst
Elite short-area acceleration from read to contact lets him cross a gap and finish a run before the blocker can redirect him.
- 02
Blitz feel
Times delayed A-gap and edge pressures with rare patience, producing 8.0 sacks and 17 tackles for loss in his 2023 breakout season.
- 03
Lateral range
Chases plays sideline to sideline and makes tackles outside the numbers that most 230-pound off-ball backers never get to.
- 04
Contact attitude
Attacks the outside shoulder of pullers and fullbacks instead of catching blocks, keeping the linebacker level clean behind him.
- 05
Coverage athleticism
Carries tight ends up the seam and matches backs in the flat with the fluidity of a converted safety rather than a box thumper.
- 01
Gap discipline
Guesses on run fits and shoots the wrong hole chasing penetration, turning contained runs into explosive gains when he is wrong.
- 02
Block deconstruction
Gets sealed and washed by climbing interior linemen because his hands and play strength lag well behind his burst.
- 03
Tackling consistency
Runs through ballcarriers with his shoulder rather than wrapping, which produces highlight hits and a real miss rate.
- 04
Zone eye discipline
Drifts toward the quarterback's first read and vacates his landmark, leaving throwing windows behind him in match coverage.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.51sp50
- Vertical
- 34.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 118inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Texas A&M | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Texas A&M | 12 | 58 | 0.5 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | Texas A&M | 11 | 61 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| 2023 | Texas A&M | 12 | 84 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Career | — | 44 | 205 | 8.5 | 2 | 8 | 3 |
Sports-Reference CFB totals including bowl games; season sums reconcile exactly with the career line (205 tackles, 31 TFL, 8.5 sacks). 2023 consensus All-America.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Explosive, blitz-heavy Will whose splash plays and missed fits arrive in the same quarter.
The ceiling if the eye discipline ever catches up to the range: a green-dot backer who erases the middle of the field.
Undersized runner who ends up a sub-package specialist if he cannot survive downhill guards.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Green Bay eased him in and then could not keep him off the field. He opened 2024 in a rotational role behind the veterans, took over as the season went on and finished with 87 tackles, 3.5 sacks, an interception and four pass breakups in fourteen games with only four starts. He won NFC Defensive Player of the Week twice, was named Defensive Rookie of the Month in December and made the PFWA All-Rookie Team — the rare Day 2 linebacker who was clearly the best defender on the field in multiple games. In 2025 he was the full-time green-dot backer: sixteen starts, 118 tackles, four pass breakups and two forced fumbles, with the sack production drying up to 0.5 as his role shifted from designed pressure to run-fit anchor.
The hindsight verdict is that the aggression flags were real and coachable, and the athletic ceiling was underrated. Pick 45 bought a two-year starter who became a defensive centerpiece by his second season. The open question is whether the volume role has taken away the disruption that made him special — 118 tackles and half a sack is a different player than the rookie who wrecked games. Either way, it is a clear win at the price.
Data note: Sports-Reference CFB totals including bowl games; season sums reconcile exactly with the career line (205 tackles, 31 TFL, 8.5 sacks). 2023 consensus All-America.