Digging into the film on Edgerrin Cooper’s first game

In his first game for the Green Bay Packers  in the NFL, Edgerrin Cooper - the 2024 second-round pick out of Texas A&M  - played limited snaps but showed some very nice things. It was a welcome sight for a team that hasn’t seen a difference-making inside linebacker for many years.


When watching the game live, he certainly popped out with some splash plays. Whenever that happens, I can’t wait to dig into the film and see if it backs up what my eyes saw through the limited view of the broadcast camera.


I’m even more eager to dive in when I see comments like this from the head coach:






Matt LaFleur says Edgerrin Cooper flashed in his limited playing time and would "anticipate him getting more time moving forward." Not perfect, LaFleur points out, but promising #Packers 
— Wes Hodkiewicz (@WesHod) September 9, 2024 









If [URL=https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516590&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pff.com%2F&referrer=sbnation.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.acmepackingcompany.com%2F2024%2F9%2F10%2F24240641%2Fgreen-bay-packers-edgerrin-cooper-the-second-coming-of-nick-barnett" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank]PFF[/URL] grades are your thing, they also tell an encouraging story. Cooper posted an overall defensive grade of 85.9, the highest grade of any Packers player in Week 1 (Xavier McKinney was second with a grade of 76.2).


Cooper only played 11 snaps on the day, so it made this film review a relatively quick one. Let’s take a quick look. What did we see from Cooper against the Eagles ?


On his first snap, he posted a tackle. Not his most impressive feat, but it’s still a solid rep. The Eagles are running Jalen Hurts up the middle, behind the pulling Cam Jurgens and Saquon Barkley. Cooper is outside the box, keeping his eyes in the backfield. Grant Calcaterra angles in to block Cooper out. Cooper engages with Calcaterra, holding him off at arm’s length and angling around him.


When Hurts breaks through the line, Cooper shoves Calcaterra and gets in on the tackle of Hurts.









Again, not the flashiest of plays, but he holds his ground and does his job.


If you’re looking for flashy, you don’t have to look too far. The Eagles are running Counter, with the left side of the line pulling over to attack the right. Cooper is the weakside linebacker on the attack side. Cooper widens with the Eagles' motion, taking him outside of the right tackle.


At the snap, Cooper takes a step back, sees the blocks, then attacks the line to try to beat any potential blocks. The pulling guard is mainly concerned with pinning down the right side, giving an opening for Cooper.


Barkley tries to cut inside on Cooper, but Cooper is able to get a hand on Barkley and trip him up.









Ideally, you’d like to see him stay on his feet, as you can’t rely on an arm tackle to bring down Barkley. An area to improve on for sure, but his recognition and quick trigger to the line are truly impressive.


If we want to talk about Cooper’s speed, it’s on full display here. Cooper backs away from the line pre-snap, then screams down to the line just before the ball is snapped. The right tackle has no chance to pick him up. Hurts is looking to get the ball out quickly to AJ Brown in the slot, but Cooper is able to get a hand up and knock it down.









You can see him from the left side of the screen here.









Eye-popping speed.


We also got to see him stick his nose in the run game. Cooper shifts in with the tight end, flows down the line with the blocks, finds the gap and makes contact with the runner, driving him backward.









We only got to see one true coverage rep from Cooper. I was definitely hoping we’d see more than that, because his skillset suggests he could thrive in that role.


While we only got one, it was a pretty good one. Cooper is asked to carry a tight end up the field. Anyone who has been a Packers fan for longer than 10 years can probably name at least 1 mediocre tight end that has burned the Packers.


The Eagles are running this off of play action, so Cooper takes a couple of initial steps toward the line before falling back into coverage. When he sees Calcaterra releasing vertically, Cooper recovers and carries Calcaterra up the seam and to the sideline.









Nice recovery and good speed to stick with a tight end up the seam. Granted, Calcaterra is not exactly a burner and isn’t a huge receiving threat (as his 9 catches for 120 total yards between 2022-2023 would attest to), but it’s still a nice rep.


Overall, I was impressed by what Cooper showed against the Eagles. I’m sure there will be bumps along the road - he is, after all, a rookie inside linebacker, and that’s a position that can take some time to fully get up to speed on - but he showed some very good things in his limited time. His quickness, speed and instincts were on full display in Week 1. I’m definitely looking forward to watching more from him as the season goes on.




Album listened to: St. Vincent - All Born Screaming




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