Packers rookies are just under two weeks away from reporting to training camp, but second-round pick Edgerrin Cooper already made a strong impression during the earlier portions of the offseason program.
Selected No. 45 overall as the first off-ball linebacker taken in the 2024 NFL Draft, Cooper potentially brings a crucial element of speed and smarts to Green Bay's linebacking corps, something evidenced by his work during minicamp in June catching the eye of teammate Quay Walker.
"He's showing flashes, getting downhill, playing, flying around," Walker said of Cooper, via the team's website. "I just tell him, 'Don't do no thinking, bro. Just fly around. If you mess up, it is what it is. You a rookie. Just take what you can learn … and go from there.'"
It comes as little surprise that Cooper's been described as flying around in drills. He tied for the third-fastest 40-yard dash time (4.51) among linebackers at the 2024 NFL Scouting Combine, and his 1.54 10-yard split to begin that dash tied for the best at his position.
If he proves capable of cracking the starting lineup as a rookie, he and Walker, a third-year LB who possesses similar speed with a 4.52 40-yard dash, could form the new dynamic duo in the middle of defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley's scheme.
Walker perhaps took his "no thinking" mindset too much to heart when he was a rookie himself considering he twice earned ejections during the 2022 season, but he's since developed into a leader for the Packers. Plus, he's right to suggest Cooper should rely on the instincts that got him here once the NFL game starts to click.
That process already appears to be happening for the rookie, a development he and his coach Matt LaFleur have noted.
"I feel like especially this last week, week and a half, I was able to actually relax in my head," Cooper said during minicamp in June. "I'm starting to pick it up. So right now it's just, you know, playing ball. It feels good to where I don't have to think as much and just do what I do."
According to the Packers' site, LaFleur even called a play during the last practice of minicamp specifically meant to trick Cooper, who instead read it and reacted correctly.
"I thought for sure we were going to get him on (it), and he did a heck of a job," LaFleur said. "I was kind of teasing the other coaches, 'Did you preview him for that play?' And they did not.
"So, that's a credit to him and just how engaged he's been and how locked in he's been throughout the course of the offseason."
Successfully perceiving and responding to such deception is key in the lead-up to one's rookie year. The ability to do so suggests Cooper is where he needs to be mentally to hit the ground running in camp, but his chance to prove himself in a regular-season game remains months away.
Getting there and thriving, whether it's from the starting lineup or initially in rotation behind others like Eric Wilson or Isaiah McDuffie, will take building on his evidently sturdy foundation in the many weeks worth of practices ahead.
It's something the Packers are counting on as they look to field a defense that matches output to their top-end talent for the first time in several years.
