Edgerrin Cooper was recently tabbed by ESPN as one of the NFL’s top ten linebackers, and honestly, the dude absolutely deserves it. He’s a bona fide star for the Green Bay Packers, a young building block right in the very heart of that defense. But here’s the kicker, folks: while Cooper is unquestionably a stud, the rest of Green Bay’s linebacker group is loaded with far more questions than answers as they head into the fall season. It's a huge riddle for Jonathan Gannon to solve.
Edgerrin Cooper: The Lone Star Powering the Core
It’s easy to get super hyped about Cooper. The guy’s still early in his career and he’s already getting major national recognition. He’s so good, in fact, that an ESPN piece even put him on a short list of Packers players who would command at least a first-round pick in a trade at this point. That’s elite company, too, considering Jordan Love, Micah Parsons, and Zach Tom also made that exclusive list. It truly feels like 2026 is going to be Cooper’s year to make his first Pro Bowl appearance, and frankly, he alone could end up masking a whole bunch of issues from the rest of the unit around him. He’s the undeniable anchor, no doubt about it.The Green Bay Linebacker Group: A Minefield of Questions
But as every football fan knows, you can’t win an NFL game with merely one superstar linebacker, even if he’s a true game-changer. Jonathan Gannon, or whoever is making the personnel calls, absolutely needs to figure out who’s playing next to Cooper because on most defensive plays, you need at least two guys out there. And that’s precisely where the concerns really start to pile up for this Green Bay squad. Take Zaire Franklin. Only two years ago, he was a second-team All-Pro, a totally legitimate threat! But then 2025 happened, and he clocked in his worst season as a professional. Was it the different defensive scheme that year? Maybe it simply didn’t fit his game particularly well. Whatever the reason, what can the Packers truly expect from him this season? Then there’s Isaiah McDuffie. He’s a viable run-stuffer, absolutely, but the source explicitly calls him a major liability in coverage. That’s a giant red flag in today’s pass-happy NFL, right? And don't even get me started on Ty’Ron Hopper, a third-year pro who played a mere 59 defensive snaps last year before the final, meaningless Week 18 game of the season. What exactly *is* Ty’Ron Hopper going to be for them when it matters? Finally, how much confidence does the team genuinely have in guys like Nick Niemann or Kristian Welch to actually provide quality defensive depth instead of solely being special teams contributors? This unit is definitely going to be one of the most interesting ones to watch this fall, and for all the wrong reasons. This Green Bay linebacker group is absolutely stacked with unknowns and question marks. Cooper is an undeniable force, but the team's overall success this fall hinges entirely on Gannon figuring out how to get reliable and consistent production from the other guys. The season kicks off soon, and finding those crucial answers is going to be paramount for Green Bay.This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.