Packers 2024 Report Card: Grading Edgerrin Cooper and Linebackers

Second-round draft pick Edgerrin Cooper put up dominant production while playing less than half of the defensive snaps in a veteran depth chart.
Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) celebrates after an interception at the Seattle Seahawks.a
Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) celebrates after an interception at the Seattle Seahawks.a / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers drafted linebackers in the second and third rounds of this year’s NFL Draft. One of them, Edgerrin Cooper, looks like a potentially dominant, game-changing defender.

With that as a backdrop, here is Part 8 of our annual series of player report cards. As we’ve done for about 15 seasons, the grades are viewed through the lens of the salary cap. Why? Because the financial component is so critical to building a team. A championship team needs its most-expensive players to be among its best players, and it needs young, inexpensive players to rise to prominent roles.

All cap figures are from OverTheCap.com. Analytical stats are from Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions.

One data point with a lengthy explanation is a run stop. That matches Green Bay’s win-loss grading system. A “stop” is first-and-10 tackle that limits the play to 3 yards or less, a second-down tackle that limits the gain to less than half the necessary yards and a third- or fourth-down tackle that prevents a first down.

Quay Walker

2024 salary cap: $3,774,994. Position rank: 30th.

One thing is for sure: The Packers like Quay Walker more than you probably do. They raved about him all season, sometimes unprompted. He played better as the season progressed but missed the final three-plus regular-season games with an ankle injury.

First-year defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley put Walker in the middle of the defense and made him the defensive play-caller. In 13 games, Walker recorded 102 tackles – giving him 100-plus tackles in each of his three seasons. His nine tackles for losses were a career high, and he added 2.5 sacks and two pass deflections.

Walker averaged 7.32 snaps per tackle. His average tackle came 2.4 yards downfield (best of his career) but he missed 18 tackles and had a missed-tackle rate of 15.0 percent (both the worst of his career). For reference, the league median for missed-tackle percentage for a linebacker was 13.9.

He allowed 41-of-51 passing (80.4 percent) for 367 yards (7.2 yards per target) and zero touchdowns.

Of 75 linebackers who played at least 175 snaps against the run, Walker’s run-stop rate ranked 38th.

The Packers must make a decision on his fifth-year option by May 1. After playing 2,442 regular-season snaps, is there more room to grow or is he a finished product?

“Certainly, think we would love to have him around here for longer than just a couple years,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said.

Grade: C.

Edgerrin Cooper

2024 salary cap: $1,563,440. Position rank: 64th.

Edgerrin Cooper was the first linebacker selected in this year’s draft. He was excellent and has a chance to be a game-wrecking, All-Pro kind of player.

An All-Rookie performer, Cooper on defense had 77 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 13 tackles for losses, one forced fumble, one interception and four passes defensed. He also led the team with 10 tackles on special teams, giving him a total of 87.

Cooper, Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher and DeMeco Ryans are the only rookie off-the-ball linebackers since at least 1999 with at least 80 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 13 TFLs and four passes defensed, according to Stathead.

The TFL count was the most for any rookie this season, the most for any linebacker this season and the most by a rookie linebacker since Lavonte David in 2012.

All of that came with Cooper playing 45.1 percent of the defensive snaps.

Cooper averaged 6.38 snaps per tackle. He finished second behind the Eagles’ Nakobe Dean in run-stop percentage. His average tackle was 1.7 yards downfield (good) but missed 16 tackles (17.2 percent, which is bad). He allowed 24-of-37 passing (64.9 percent) for 221 yards (6.0 yards per target) with one touchdown.

Cooper’s physical tools are obvious. So is his feel for the game. Once he puts it all together, the sky will be the limit.

“I think what you’re starting to see is we are going to be able to, bit by bit as he grows, put him in some pretty fun positions,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “What a great draft pick and what a great person. He loves ball. He’s got a really bright future.”

Grade: A.

Eric Wilson

2024 salary cap: $1,152,500. Position rank: 87th.

The Packers grabbed Wilson off the Saints’ practice squad early in 2023 and re-signed him to a one-year deal in 2024. Both were excellent moves.

In 17 games with 12 starts – he had started only two games the past three seasons combined – Wilson tallied 63 tackles, two sacks, seven tackles for losses, one forced fumble, one interception and two passes defensed.

Wilson averaged 8.86 snaps per tackle, missed 17 tackles (21.3 percent) and his average tackle came 2.1 yards downfield. He allowed 31-of-37 passing (83.8 percent) for 314 yards (8.5 yards per target) and two touchdowns.

Of 75 off-the-ball linebackers who played at least 175 run snaps, he ranked 62nd in PFF’s run-stop percentage.

Wilson was first on the team in special-teams snaps and second with nine tackles. He played 95 total snaps against Minnesota in Week 17, the second-most for any player this season.

Other than kicker Brandon McManus, the 30-year-old Wilson was the only player age 30-plus on the roster. Despite the age, his all-around value will be hard to ignore when free agency begins.

Grade: B-minus

Isaiah McDuffie

2024 salary cap: $1,087,676. Position rank: 95th.

A sixth-round pick in 2021 who will be a free agent this offseason, McDuffie started all 17 games and was second on the team with 94 tackles. He added a half-sack, three tackles for losses, one forced fumble and three passes defensed. He averaged 7.44 snaps per tackle.

Of 75 off-the-ball linebackers who played at least 175 run snaps, he ranked 65th in PFF’s run-stop percentage. His average tackle came 2.0 yards downfield (best of his career) and he missed 13 tackles (12.1 percent).

McDuffie allowed a catch rate of 83.9 percent (47-of-56 for 405 yards), 7.2 yards per target and a team-worst five touchdowns (tied with Keisean Nixon).

Grade: C-plus.

Ty’Ron Hopper

2024 salary cap: $1,032,368. Position rank: 103rd.

Hopper played just 18 snaps on defense but was fifth with 215 snaps on special teams. He had two tackles on defense but was fourth on the team with seven tackles on special teams.

Hopper was fifth on the depth chart to start the season and fifth on the depth chart to end the season. The grade seems unfair considering who was ahead of him and it’s in no way indicative of the player he will become. But the grade is based on production, and there wasn’t much. However, with Wilson and McDuffie set to hit free agency, Hopper might be a starter when OTAs begin in May.

“He’s a physical guy,” linebackers coach Anthony Campanile said before Week 18. “I think he’s getting better every day, I really do. I’m excited about him. I think he’s in a good spot.”

Grade: D.

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.