{"id":83166,"date":"2025-05-27T17:28:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T17:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/83166\/"},"modified":"2025-05-27T17:28:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T17:28:10","slug":"love-for-edgerrin-cooper-and-elgton-jenkins-but-packers-missing-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/83166\/","title":{"rendered":"Love for Edgerrin Cooper and Elgton Jenkins, but Packers missing playoffs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben’s Solak’s list of 100 things to know and predictions for the 2025 NFL season<\/a> — posted at ESPN on Tuesday — featured love for Green Bay Packers<\/a> linebacker Edgerrin Cooper and offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins but also included a prediction Packers fans won’t like to read.<\/p>\n

First, the good. Solak started his 100-item list with “10 names to know.” The first two names listed? Both Packers — Cooper and Jenkins.<\/p>\n

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Solak sees Cooper, an All-Rookie Team pick who won two NFC Defensive Player of the Week awards and took off as an impact player to end last season, as an All-Pro candidate in 2025.<\/p>\n

From Solak: “The lightbulb went on for Cooper last year, as he rose from sub-package player to 100% snap starter by season’s end. From December on, I’m not sure there were five more impactful linebackers in all of football. Cooper is highly active against the run and a reliable tackler in space. He has the size and athletic ability to be a solid coverage man. After he got one All-Pro vote last season, I’d wager Cooper gets double-digit votes in 2025.”<\/p>\n

Cooper produced 13 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, a forced fumble, an interception and two fumble recoveries while starting only four games and playing under 500 total snaps as a rookie. He has legitimate star power as a do-everything disruptor at off-ball linebacker, especially after gaining weight and strength ahead of Year 2. He should be more comfortable in Jeff Hafley’s defense and better built to withstand the rigors of an NFL season.<\/p>\n

On offense, Solak sees Jenkins, who is moving to center in 2025, as “one of the coolest players in the league” considering his incredible versatility and consistency. And he agrees that Jenkins — who is skipping the offseason program so far — needs a restructured deal ahead of this season.<\/p>\n

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From Solak: “In six seasons, he has played at least 300 snaps at four of the five offensive line positions: both tackle spots, left guard and center. The film has been good everywhere, too — absurd consistency. His last extensive experience at center was in 2020, but he’s expected to fill that spot in 2025 after Josh Myers left for the Jets in free agency. Jenkins is in a contract dispute with the Packers right now, as he has two years left on his deal and reportedly wants his compensation to reflect his versatility. I agree with him. What a player.”<\/p>\n

The Packers gave Aaron Banks a top-of-the-market deal and are now asking Jenkins — who has been a far better player than Banks at left guard during his career — to move to center. It’s a lot to ask of a player who has only two years left on his deal, could be a cut candidate in 2026 and is moving to a less lucrative position at center. In some ways, Jenkins’ incredible versatility is both a gift and a curse. He can play every offensive line position, and most of the five at a high level. But moving around so often is tough on the player and makes the financial side increasingly tricky.<\/p>\n

Ready for the bad? Solak predicted the Packers wouldn’t make the postseason in 2025. His concerns revolve around the defense’s pass-rush, which was frustratingly inconsistent in 2024 and didn’t make a major addition this offseason, and at the top of the receiver depth chart.<\/p>\n

Solak’s prediction: “The Packers will miss the playoffs. I think two of the biggest nonnegotiables for playoff teams are having a pass rush and a dominant receiver. The Packers definitely don’t have the first and still might not have the second, even after drafting Matthew Golden in Round 1. They were plus-12 in turnover differential last season, which ranked third in the NFL, but that tends not to be a sticky number. (I am also looking at the plus-24 Bills with supreme suspicion.)”<\/p>\n

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Legitimate concerns, but it’s worth noting that the Packers won 11 games and made the playoffs without a dominant pass rush or a true No. 1 receiver just last season. Making a change at defensive line coach — swapping out Jason Rebrovich for former Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington — could make a big difference. And after adding Golden and Savion Williams in the draft, the Packers are deep in talent at wide receiver, plus Tucker Kraft could emerge as a bigger weapon in the passing game.<\/p>\n

Solak also mentioned Packers-Eagles in Week 10 as one of his “nine interesting scheduling features,” and for an obvious reason: It’s the Tush Push battle. Surely, that storyline won’t be brought up a million more times before now and kickoff in Week 10, right?<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Ben Solak’s predictions Packers Edgerrin Cooper Elgton Jenkins playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ben’s Solak’s list of 100 things to know and predictions for the 2025 NFL season — posted at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2072],"tags":[3504,2998,15906,7,41,345,2514,2513,13940,701,6,453,428,904,14233],"class_list":{"0":"post-83166","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-aaron-banks","9":"tag-edgerrin-cooper","10":"tag-elgton-jenkins","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-green-bay","13":"tag-green-bay-packers","14":"tag-greenbay","15":"tag-greenbaypackers","16":"tag-josh-myers","17":"tag-matthew-golden","18":"tag-nfl","19":"tag-offensive-lineman","20":"tag-packers","21":"tag-savion-williams","22":"tag-tucker-kraft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}