Rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper was the pick by Pro Football Focus as the Green Bay Packers’ “secret superstar” for the 2024 season.
PFF defines a secret superstar as the “unheralded stars who fly under the radar” and are considered underrated based on “how good their seasons were relative to wider discussion.”
A second-round pick out of Texas A&M, Cooper dealt with injuries during his rookie season but still emerged as a legitimate playmaker for first-year defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, and his final month of the 2024 season was as good as any defensive player in football.
By PFF’s overall grades, Cooper finished as the Packers’ second-best defensive player during the regular season (behind only Xavier McKinney) and best overall defensive player if counting the team’s playoff game. Over the final four games of the 2024 season, Cooper had the highest overall grade among NFL defensive players.
Jared Verse of the Los Angeles Rams will run away with NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, but Cooper — who actually received one All-Pro vote — has a strong argument for second place.
Cooper finished with 13 tackles for loss — the second most among off-ball linebackers in the NFL — despite playing just 14 games. He also added 3.5 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries. Cooper was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week in Week 8 and Week 15 and the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Month for December/January.
Per PFF, Cooper ranked second among rookie defensive players in overall grade (84.0) and first in stops (35), or a tackle creating an offensive failure. He graded at 70.0 or better against the run, as a pass-rusher and in coverage. His only weakness was missed tackles — Cooper missed 13 and had a missed percentage of 15.9, a little too many misses and too high of a percentage for a linebacker.
Fast, decisive, disruptive and violent, Cooper checks all the boxes for a modern NFL off-ball linebacker. He could position himself as one of the league’s next star linebackers if he can build on his rookie season as a second-year player in 2025.