GREEN BAY — By his own admission, there were plenty of times during his first NFL season that linebacker Edgerrin Cooper didn’t really know what he was doing.

And given how good the Green Bay Packers rookie second-round pick was in 2024, just imagine what he could be this season.

“I feel like for every rookie it’s kind of tough coming in,” Cooper explained last month as the team’s offseason program drew to a close. “I felt as the season went along, I was still picking up on things, learning how things go.

“[But] at the end of the season, I got pretty dialed in. And right now, I know what it’s all about and how to play well and do all the little things right.”

Cooper was twice named NFC defensive player of the week — to be clear, those were not rookie-only awards, but rather honoring him as the best defensive player in the conference that week, period — last season:

First, for his performances in the Packers’ Week 8 win in Jacksonville (in which he forced a Trevor Lawrence fumble on a strip/sack and also ran stride-for-stride with Jaguars wide receiver Christian Kirk to break up a downfield pass down the seam), then for his all-over-the-field game in Week 15 win at Seattle (a sack, an interception, five tackles, two tackles for loss and two pass break-ups).

And although Cooper missed three games with a hamstring injury, he still managed 3.5 sacks, 13 tackles for a loss, seven quarterback hits, an interception, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.

“He had a hell of a first year, and he’s just going to keep building,” first-team All-Pro safety Xavier McKinney said. “He knows how talented he is. So we’ve just got to keep pushing him, and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.

“You could tell that he’s serious about what he wants to do, and he’s being very intentional about it as well. So, I expect more from him. We all do. And I know he expects that for himself as well.”

Cooper not only bulked up during the offseason, reporting to organized team activity practices around 240 pounds after getting down to about 220 after the rigors of his first professional season, but he also dove deep into defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley’s playbook in an effort to eliminate the bevy of so-called rookie mistakes he made last year.

“He’s so much more confident. Certainly, his body looks different,” head coach Matt LaFleur said. “I’m really excited about him, just his understanding of the detail of what he’s supposed to do, and those around him. I think are going to allow him to play that much faster, which is pretty exciting.

“He looks as explosive as I’ve seen him, so we’re really fired up about that.”

For his part, Cooper understands that despite his size, speed and athleticism — his 9.13 relative athletic score coming out of Texas A&M put him in the “elite” category — he can be far more effective if he’s always where he’s supposed to be, when he’s supposed to be there.

“I even met with some coaches in our offseason and was asking questions about plays and just trying to get ahead of my season,” Cooper said. “You try to have a perfect game, but also as a rookie — I don’t like using that excuse for myself — things can be tough for you. You think a lot, your alignment can be wrong, just little stuff like that.

“So, [I’m] just making sure I’m in the right spot at all times.”

Which is why Hafley believes he’ll play with far greater consistency in Year 2.

“We sometimes joked about how he might’ve had [one] gap, but he made the play over there [in another gap], right?” a smiling Hafley recalled. “Now, it’s getting the details down. Now, it’s lining up exactly where he needs to line up and doing it over and over and over again. Because then, he’s going to show up faster and he’s going to make more plays and he’s going to become a more consistent player.”

About our “Most Important Packers of 2025” Series: When the Packers kick off their seventh training camp under head coach Matt LaFleur on July 23, they’ll do so with a host of players facing pivotal seasons. LaFleur clearly believes he has ample talent to be a Super Bowl contender — even if he didn’t want to say so as the offseason program came to a close — but turning that belief into reality will require many of those players to produce at higher levels than they have in the past. This series, which began in 2010 on ESPNWisconsin.com, examines each of those players and how the team’s success hinges on their contributions. The list is compiled with input from team observers, former players and NFL sources.