GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers haven’t had a defensive player opponents have had to account for on every play since Clay Matthews in the early 2010s. They appear to finally have one now in rookie linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, who’s proven to be a playmaker at or behind the line of scrimmage as a run defender and a genuine threat as a blitzer as well.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said last week he had more ways to feature Cooper than he’d shown to that point. He unveiled one against the Chicago Bears in a dime personnel group that featured three defensive linemen and two linebackers, as opposed to the traditional dime of four and one.