GREEN BAY \u2014 Evan Williams wasn\u2019t surprised. Neither was Javon Bullard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019d both seen as rookies in 2024 how their fellow draft classmate, Edgerrin Cooper, could tilt the field in the Green Bay Packers defense\u2019s direction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So to them, what the third-year inside linebacker did in the Packers\u2019 season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings last Sunday \u2014 registering a sack, two tackles for loss, a quarterback hit, a quarterback pressure and tied for the team lead in tackles (seven) while playing all 65 defensive snaps \u2014 was merely a return to form in the eyes of the two third-year safeties.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my guy. He means everything,\u201d said Williams, a fourth-round pick in that 2024 draft after Cooper and Bullard went in the second round. \u201cHe\u2019s a tone-setter. We talk about tone-setters as something that\u2019s imperative to a team. He\u2019s a guy you can always count on to set the tempo immediately \u2014 first snap to the last, he\u2019s somebody that\u2019s flying to the ball [with] reckless abandon.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know on any given play, he\u2019s going to be doing exactly that \u2013 flying to the ball, pursuing from the backside and it makes our job [as safeties] a lot easier when you have somebody being really decisive up front. It definitely cleans up the picture for the back end. You can see his growth week to week, which is what I love, seeing him develop, seeing him read patterns and just process things a whole lot faster. It\u2019s looking like it\u2019s turning up to be one hell of a year for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added Bullard: \u201cWe\u2019re not surprised. Coop\u2019s gonna be Coop, flying around. Coop is one of those guys who just trusts his talents. We say all the time. See ball, get ball. Coop, just go get the ball. I think him not second-guessing himself, him trusting the abilities that God has blessed him with, I think he\u2019s gonna continue to make plays for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s certainly new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon\u2019s hope after Cooper, by his own admission, had a down Year 2 after an impressive rookie season.<\/p>\n
Cooper\u2019s impact plays dropped from a blockbuster rookie year under then- new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley in which he won the NFC defensive player of the week award twice (3.5 sacks, an interception, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, four pass breakups) to a Year 2 with very few splash plays (118 tackles, but no interceptions and just a half-sack).<\/p>\n
Cooper, though, didn\u2019t blame Hafley for how he was deployed; rather, he acknowledged that he didn\u2019t elevate his own game the way he\u2019d hoped to in his second season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like this is the year,\u201d Cooper, who has not yet spoken with reporters this week in advance of Sunday\u2019s game between the Packers (0-1) and New York Jets (1-0) at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., said in June as the offseason program drew to a close. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be slept on no more or any of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like my second year had a little slump early in the season, but it happens. It\u2019s about how you respond. I felt like I did a good job responding, played decent ball at the end of the season. I\u2019m just ready to elevate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to be the best at my position. I feel like it\u2019s time. It\u2019s been time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gannon seems to agree. He lined Cooper up in a variety of spots, moving him around alignments and sent him on four blitzes after Hafley sent him just 40 times in 16 starts last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought he was lights out,\u201d Gannon said. \u201cHe was all over the place. [We] deployed him a couple different ways, made a lot of plays for us, so he definitely impacted the game in a positive way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you look at skillset for a linebacker \u2014 he can tackle, he can cover, he can blitz, he sees things extremely quickly \u2014 and I just think his explosiveness, when he sees the ball, he can go hit the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Added head coach Matt LaFleur: \u201cThat presents a lot of challenges in regards to where’s he going to line up. And then he’s just a playmaker out there. So just trying to get to him [as an offense] on the second level in the run game can be a challenge. He’s just a really talented player who I think is just scratching the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n
It could be argued that Cooper already scratched the surface before, and now it\u2019s time for him to elevate his game. And if he continues to do so, it\u2019ll elevate a defense that is in desperate need of a field-tilter while star edge rusher Micah Parsons works his way back from last year\u2019s season-ending knee injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoop\u2019s got some things in his game that I ain\u2019t seen a lot of people have,\u201d said veteran inside linebacker Zaire Franklin, Cooper\u2019s new runningmate following the offseason free-agent departure of 2022 first-round pick Quay Walker. \u201cI feel like he still hasn\u2019t shown everything that he\u2019s capable of, that I\u2019ve seen even in my short time playing with him. I\u2019m looking forward to an opportunity to watch him play, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cA guy like that, just making plays, I just feed off him, play off him. I tell him, ‘Look, Coop, I’m sending them right to you.’ And he knows it. It’s a tag team and we work together. I knew coming in, being able to play next to somebody that was young and talented like Coop, it’s going to make the whole defense better. It\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
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