The Green Bay Packers let Quay Walker walk in free agency. No replacement was signed. No big trade was made. On paper, it looked like a hole on defense. But the Packers might have known something the rest of us were late to pick up on.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler dropped his annual top-10 linebacker rankings on Tuesday, based on polling from NFL scouts, coaches, and executives. Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper landed at No. 9.
That’s a jump from last year, when he didn’t make the list at all. It’s also a sign that Green Bay’s front office might have been right to trust what it had.
How Cooper made the leap
Cooper put up 118 tackles in 2025, with two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and four passes defensed. Solid numbers. But the people who watch film for a living noticed more than the stat sheet.
“He has the size, speed and run-and-hit ability that few have,” a veteran NFL defensive coach told Fowler. “He can really go.”
The Packers drafted Cooper in the second round out of Texas A&M. For a while, he was a talented guy who hadn’t quite put it all together. That changed last season. He started reading plays faster, diagnosing runs before they developed, and playing with the kind of instincts you can’t really teach.
“It’s his mind,” a high-ranking AFC official said. “He sees it and can anticipate.”
Before the 2025 season, some people inside the league were already drawing comparisons between Cooper and Fred Warner, the 49ers star who topped ESPN’s list again this year. That might have seemed ambitious at the time. It looks a lot less crazy now.
Walker didn’t crack the top 10
As for the guy Green Bay let go? Walker didn’t make the top 10. He was listed as an honorable mention. One NFC assistant coach acknowledged that things finally clicked for Walker last year, particularly against the run. “He has always been fast, long and can hit,” the coach said.
That’s real praise. But it’s not the same as being one of the ten best linebackers in football. And the Packers, who have a salary cap to manage and other needs to address, clearly made a calculation. They bet on Cooper. So far, it’s paying off.
Training camp opens later this month. Cooper will be out there as the clear starter in the middle of Green Bay’s defense. The Raiders, meanwhile, will see what they’ve got in Walker. Both sides think they won the swap. ESPN’s list suggests one of them might be right.
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