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.