The Green Bay Packers’ roster decisions at edge rusher point in one direction: Edgerrin Cooper is not just a linebacker anymore, at least not in the way Green Bay may choose to use him.
When the Packers trimmed down to 53, they kept only four true edge rushers in the mix - Lukas Van Ness, Barryn Sorrell, Brenton Cox Jr. and Dani Dennis-Sutton - even with Micah Parsons unavailable and a clear need for more heat off the edge. Collin Oliver, who looked like the likely fifth man, ended up on injured reserve because of calf and Achilles issues.
That left Green Bay with a thin group on the outside, but it also hinted at a bigger plan. Cooper appears to be the player who can help patch that gap.
The Packers already explored that idea in training camp, when they experimented with Cooper as an edge presence. That wasn’t a random flier.
At Texas A&M, he was a much more natural pass-rushing threat than he has been in his first two NFL seasons, especially in 2024. New defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon could be looking to bring that part of Cooper’s game back to the surface.
Cooper will still be an off-ball linebacker first and foremost. But that doesn’t mean his value has to be limited to playing inside.
Green Bay can get more out of him by sending him on blitzes far more often than former defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley did. In practical terms, that lets Cooper act like the fifth edge rusher the Packers did not keep.
There are other reasons the roster shook out this way. Oliver’s injury mattered most.
Undrafted rookie Nyjalik Kelly didn’t do enough to stick on the 53. The rumored Josh Sweat move never came together.
Once those options were off the table, the Packers were left with a narrow set of choices.
It also says something about Green Bay’s confidence in Sorrell and Dennis-Sutton, both of whom are still short on experience. The team clearly believes those two can handle meaningful snaps.
Still, Cooper looks like the real swing piece here. Last season, he logged only about 60 pass-rush snaps and finished with half a sack and 12 PFF pressures. That number should be a floor, not a ceiling.
He’s too explosive to be boxed into a conventional inside-linebacker role. And with veteran leader Zaire Franklin handling the green-dot duties, Cooper should have more freedom to attack the line of scrimmage instead of staying tethered to the middle of the field.
There’s a schematic bonus too. If Cooper is being used as a rusher more often, Gannon can get more creative with blitz looks and disguises. Offenses won’t know whether Cooper is coming or dropping, and that uncertainty is part of the point.
For a fifth edge defender, the Packers would only have been getting a rotational piece anyway. Cooper can provide that kind of help on third-and-long and in blitz packages, while also giving Green Bay a little extra flexibility elsewhere. In roster-building terms, he functions like two players in one - a useful “free square” in a 53-man puzzle that suddenly looks a lot easier to solve.
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