Packer Central

Two Packers Projected to Make NFL All-Rookie Team

NFL.com’s Chad Reuter picked an 11-man All-Rookie team on defense. The Green Bay Packers’ second-round picks, Edgerrin Cooper and Javon Bullard, made the squad. 

Bill Huber

Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) is shown during organized team activities on May 29 in Green Bay, Wis.
Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper (56) is shown during organized team activities on May 29 in Green Bay, Wis. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – For the Green Bay Packers’ defense to rise above mediocrity, second-round draft picks Javon Bullard and Edgerrin Cooper must be instant-impact players.

That’s exactly what NFL.com draft writer Chad Reuter expects. Both players were named to his projected All-Rookie defensive team.

The first of the team’s second-round picks, Cooper stuffed the stat sheet at Texas A&M and will do the same for the Packers, Reuter said. Cooper, the Chargers’ Junior Colson and the Raiders’ Tommy Eichenberg were the All-Rookie linebacker selections.

“Cooper comes to a perfect situation in Green Bay, where his closing speed and toughness will force offenses to account for him on every play,” Reuter wrote. “He and 2022 first-round pick Quay Walker will be the primary linebackers in new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley's scheme, working inside and outside depending on the formation.”

Cooper was an All-American last season with 84 tackles, including eight sacks and an SEC-leading 17 tackles for losses. In three seasons with significant playing time, he added two interceptions and three forced fumbles.

“I challenged him last offseason of just doing more to prepare,” Cooper’s college position coach, new Auburn defensive coordinator and linebackers coach D.J. Durkin, told Packer Central after the draft. “He’s an elite athlete and he had relied on that his whole career. From small-town high school and when he got to college, based on ability, he can run around and make plays and do stuff, but he wasn’t playing at a consistent level.

“I challenged him. I was like, ‘Here’s what you need to improve’ in terms of preparation off the field, practice habits, went through a list of things with him. That’s things coaches do all the time, right? But some guys do, some guys don’t. He completely responded, took on the challenge and just really developed and matured as a person, as a player. And again, the results speak for themselves.”

Bullard was part of Green Bay’s massive makeover at safety. Gone are Darnell Savage, Jonathan Owens and Rudy Ford, who combined to play almost 2,000 snaps last season. In their place are Xavier McKinney, the team’s big free-agent addition, and Bullard (the second of the team’s second-round picks), Evan Williams (fourth round) and Kitan Oladapo (fifth round).

“Bullard can make plays on the ball and secure open-field tackles whether he’s lined up deep or inside the box, which makes him a great complement to … McKinney,” Reuter said. “Hafley will have the flexibility to play single-high or two-deep coverage. Bullard showed a proclivity for making big plays in big games during his Georgia career.”

Bullard will bring physicality and versatility to the secondary – two things that have been lacking. He played mostly in the slot in 2022, when he had seven tackles for losses, and mostly free safety in 2023, when he had two interceptions and seven passes defensed.

Among Power-5 conference safeties with at least 200 coverage snaps last year, he ranked No. 1 in forced-incompletion percentage (26.9 percent) and No. 2 in passer rating allowed (34.0), according to Pro Football Focus. Plus, he was an efficient and physical tackler as a “little stick of dynamite” on the Bulldogs’ powerful defense.

“Whatever needs to be done, Bull will do it,” new Syracuse coach Fran Brown, who was Georgia’s defensive backs coach the past two years, told Packer Central after the draft. “If you guys tell Bull he needs to become the long snapper, he’s going to have a really good, efficient snap time. That’s just who he is and what he’s about.”

Bullard, the 58th overall selection, and the Bills’ Cole Bishop, who was the 60th pick, were Reuter’s picks at safety.

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Bill Huber

BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packer Central, 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.