Dallas City News

We continue our 2024 NFL Draft review of draft prospects that could interest the Dallas Cowboys. Today we are looking at linebacker Edgerrin Cooper from Texas A&M.

Edgerrin Cooper
LB
Texas A&M Aggies
Senior
4-star recruit
6’2”
230 lbs
Hands- 9 3/4” (56%)
Arm Length- 34” (82%)
Wingspan- 80 1/4” (92%)

History:
Coming out of Covington High School, Cooper was a four-star recruit and was ranked the ninth-best linebacker in his class. He would enroll at Texas A&M in 2020.

His freshman season was quiet in terms of defensive snaps but he played 140 snaps on special teams. The next year Cooper got more of a role as a rotational linebacker and played 339 snaps on defense. He played primarily at middle linebacker and had seven pressures with one sack as a pass rusher. On run defense, he had 58 tackles and six tackles for loss while in pass coverage he made two pass breakups and one interception.

In 2022, Cooper was given the starting role for the Aggies at Sam linebacker. As a pass rusher he had 14 pressures and zero sacks. While on run defense he made 61 tackles and no tackles for loss.

In 2023, Cooper’s final year, he played as the Aggies starting Will linebacker. He played 609 snaps on defense and had 27 pressures and eight sacks (led team) as a pass rusher. In run defense he had 84 tackles (led team) and 17 tackles for loss (led team and SEC). His honors included being named All-American after a career year.

2023 Statistics:
609 Defensive snaps
84 Total Tackles
17 TFL
56 Defensive Stops
27 Pressures
8 Sacks
2 PBU
2 FF
0 Penalties

NFL Combine/Pro Day:
10-Yard Split- 1.54s (91%)
40-Yard Time- 4.51s (93%)
Vert- 34.5 (55%)
Broad- 118 (56%)

Awards:
All-American (2023)
First-team All-SEC (2023)

Scorecard:
Overall- 88.1
Speed- 94
Acceleration- 91
Agility- 86
Strength- 80
Tackling- 81
Run Stopping- 89
Pass Rush- 86
Discipline- 98

THE GOOD:

• A consistent playmaker with a long track record of production
• Elite speed and burst which is seen most when playing Spy or chasing down ball carriers to the outside
• Very good agility and change-of-direction skills
• Shows quick reactions and very good play recognition
• Burst and speed helps him break into the backfield easily to get to the ball carrier or complete for a sack
• Long arms help keep him off blocks to engage the ball carrier
• Has large tackle radius
• Very good lateral and sideline-to-sideline speed

THE BAD:

• His frame has room to add more bulk but this would reduce his fluid movement skills and speed, taking away what makes him special
• Will overrun the play due to going at full speed when patience is needed. Smart or agile runners can work around him.
• Plays quite upright which can cause him to knock back off the ball carrier in a tackle
• Lacks strength to stack and shed

THE FIT:
Edgerrin Cooper is an athletic off-ball linebacker who offers a lot of versatility at all three levels of defense. Primarily he’s best served as a Mike linebacker in the NFL, but that’s not to say he can’t play as the sole linebacker in the box or isolated on one side. His ability to clog the run and quickly diagnose the play is already at an NFL level, and he’s shown on certain packages he can be an effective blitz pass rusher.

His issues come with over-pursuing or taking himself out of the play by running full pace on the play, most often seen in the open field. His play style also offers a poor center of gravity as he plays very upright. This will see him fall back when tackling or getting easily shifted when taking on blocks. Add his poor play strength when shedding blocks means this a huge coaching point entering the NFL and something to work on in the training room.

Cooper is everything you look for in the new age linebacker required to be productive in the NFL. Fast, twitchy, agile and able to drop in cover with a good level of consistency. He’s ready to take on the position as an all three-down linebacker with a very shallow learning curve at this stage. He’s easily the best off-ball linebacker in this year’s draft and if not for his position and the volatility of playing linebacker, he could be close to being a first-round player.

COMPARISON:-
Devin Lloyd, Jacksonville Jaguars

GRADE:
Mid second-round grade

CONSENSUS RANKING:
45th
(Consensus ranking based on the average ranking from 90 major scoring services)