Packer Central

Packers Rookie Edgerrin Cooper Makes Player of the Week History

For the second time, Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper was named the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week.

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper returns his interception against the Seattle Seahawks.
Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper returns his interception against the Seattle Seahawks. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper made some history when he was named the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday for his big game on Sunday night at the Seattle Seahawks.

Cooper, who also won the award for his big-play performance at Jacksonville in Week 8, is the fifth player to win Defensive Player of the Week twice during his rookie season. He joins Brian Cushing (2009 with Texans), Shaquille Leonard (2018 with Colts), Nick Bosa (2019 with 49ers) and safety Kamren Kinchens (2024 with Rams).

The Defensive Player of the Week Award has been handed out since 1984. Cooper is the first Packers rookie to win the award twice, and the first Packers player to win it twice in a season since Clay Matthews during the Super Bowl season of 2010.

After missing three games with a hamstring injury, Cooper was superb in the blowout win over the Seahawks. He had one sack and one interception to go along with five tackles, two tackles for losses and two passes defensed.

According to the NFL, Cooper is the first rookie linebacker to record multiple tackles for losses and passes defensed in a game since Nick Kwiatkoski with the Bears in 2016.

“He did an outstanding job,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Tuesday. “Shoot, he was one of our defensive players of the game and he was also one of our special teams players of the game. He had three tackles on kickoff. That’s rare you see that type of production.

“So, it was cool to see. He’s a really talented guy. He did a great job in multiple other situations. On that screen play where they hit Jaxon Smith-Njigba out of the backfield, that was just an elite play by somebody that has elite athleticism.”

A second-round pick in this year’s draft following an All-American final season at Texas A&M, Cooper looks like a potential star.

In 11 games with one start, Cooper is the only rookie in the NFL with at least 30 tackles, one interception and one sack.

Among all NFL defensive players, regardless of experience, he’s one of only 11 with at least 50 tackles, seven tackles for losses, one sack and one interception.

Even while barely playing to start the season and then missing three games with a hamstring injury, Cooper is sixth on the Packers with 52 tackles. He is fourth with 3.5 sacks, tied for second with seven tackles for losses and tied for fourth with four passes defensed. He is the only player on the team with at least one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

The three-game layoff hardly mattered for the athletic rookie. He stuffed the stat sheet against Seattle while playing only 34 snaps.

“My plan is just to go out there and have fun,” Cooper said after the game. “I’ve been doing this a long time. It’s just football at the end of the day. Go out there, do what I need to do.”

He added: “It feels real good. I was very hungry to get back out there and do what I did.”

Cooper’s sack came on third down on the opening series. The interception set up Jordan Love to throw the game-clinching touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.

“That was huge,” Love said. “Just having those drives stall out on offense and then for Coop to go out there and get that pick and almost was able to take it back it looked like. He had a great game.

“We just talked about in there [the locker room], coaches read off his stat line, and just hearing some of that stuff, and he had a crazy game. And you’ve seen the work he’s put in throughout the course of the season. He’s getting better every week, and he’s a phenomenal player. So, it’s good to see him go out there and have that success.”

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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.