2026 Packers Preview: Edgerrin Cooper leads a linebacker room facing big questions
This post is adapted from Episode 1016 of Blue 58, a Packers Podcast. For more on the Packers linebackers, listen here.
The history of the Packers’ linebacker room predates the existence of The Power Sweep and Blue 58. Let’s rewind to 2015 to get a little context for how things stand today.
From 2015 through 2019, the Packers relied largely on Blake Martinez at linebacker. He had a bunch of sidekicks: Jake Ryan, Antonio Morrison, and B.J. Goodson are just a few, but Martinez was definitely the lead dog. And as a lead linebacker, I think you could call him either the worst best linebacker or the best worst linebacker.
He was frequently good but rarely great. A tackling machine, to be sure, but rarely provided big plays. In four years with the Packers, he recorded just three interceptions and 17 passes defensed, which is noteworthy because he was intended to be a coverage linebacker coming out of Stanford.
Martinez signed a big free agent contract with the New York Giants in 2020. His replacement was former Browns linebacker Christian Kirksey, whose career was described with the classic kiss of death description: “good when healthy.” And it was true in Green Bay. He only played 11 games, and was solid enough on those games, but he was ultimately hurt in the NFC Championship and exposed Ty Summers to the wrath of Tom Brady, with predictable results.
Oddly, though, Kirksey recorded 10 ballhawks in those 11 games, which was the same figure Martinez posted in 16 games the previous year. That’s an interesting nugget, and may explain what happened over the next few years. Entering 2021, the Packers didn’t really have a concrete plan at linebacker, but fell into De’Vondre Campbell, who had the year of his life that season and basically obligated the Packers into keeping him. There were a few voices who were wary of re-signing him at the time, but unfortunately I can’t say I was one of them. I probably would have brought him back, and that ended up being a mistake.
Nevertheless, in the 2022 offseason, the Packers re-signed Campbell and then drafted Quay Walker in the first round, really ushering in the age of the linebacker in Green Bay. Since 2022, the Packers have been pretty committed to spending resources at the position. Eventually, Campbell left Green Bay, but was replaced by Edgerrin Cooper, and this past offseason Walker himself left, only to be replaced by Zaire Franklin.
Basically, since Blake Martinez left, the Packers have been consistently trying to get better at linebacker. And having good linebacker play is certainly desirable. You could make a joke if you want about Brian Gutekunst trying to recreate 1990s football with great linebacker play and power running backs, but I think his position is at least somewhat defensible.
The challenge is actually finding good linebackers. I think the difference between a C+ linebacker and a B+ linebacker actually isn’t that great, at least in terms of their impact on your defense. Spending to make a small jump isn’t advisable; it really isn’t until you can make the jump from B+ to A- or higher that things start to really show up in terms of impact, and finding a linebacker who’s that good is a challenge. And don’t ask me how this grading scale works, because I just made it up.
The current linebacker picture
That all brings us to 2026, where linebackers are facing a lot of questions. First, every individual linebacker is facing questions of his own (of a sort), and second, we really don’t know what Jonathan Gannon is going to do with the linebackers. When he says “I don’t have a scheme,” increasingly I tend to believe him. If you look at his history, he really doesn’t seem to have a super-defined scheme beyond “run quarters and rush the passer.” He’s good at adapting to what his players can do, and that’s a great quality to have as a defensive coordinator, but it makes it hard to predict what he’ll do from an analytical perspective.
As a third, lesser point, we also don’t know how many linebackers they’re going to keep. When I did a roster prediction earlier this offseason, I kept six linebackers, and that was a projection that assumed Micah Parsons would be on the opening day roster. That’s no longer a realistic assumption, so I think six linebackers could be in the cards, especially with a presumed switch to a 3-4 base defense, which usually demands more linebackers in general.
There’s also the wildcard of a guy like Collin Oliver, who really is physically more like an off-ball linebacker than an edge rusher. Should you consider him a linebacker? The Packers don’t, at least not on their roster page, but that may be beside the point.
The T.J. Quinn and Krisian Welch tier
Beginning to look at the Packers’ actual players, the bottom of the linebacker list starts with T.J. Quinn and Kristian Welch.
Quinn is a 2026 undrafted free agent who finds himself on the bottom because he has no history and no special attributes. He’s small for a linebacker (6-0, 225), though he does run pretty well (a 4.52-second 40-yard dash), so he at least avoids the great sin of being both small and slow. As far as the 2026 UDFA class, I found him to be a bit of a head scratcher, but maybe he can find work as a special teamer. To me, he looks like a guy who will stick around for a bit, but ultimately be churned off the practice squad.
Welch is the plus version of Quinn. He has more prototypical size and has done the job before, both on special teams and on defense, which gives him a slight edge over Quinn, but not much. He’s certainly not a remarkable player in any significant way, but he’ll do the dirty work on special teams, but I think he’s mainly playing for tape to show other teams at this point. I think he will appear in a game for the Packers this year, but he’s not going to be a significant player.
The Nick Niemann and Ty’Ron Hopper tier
Next up is a pair of special teamers, one an ace and one a reliable body.
The ace is Nick Niemann the Special Teams Demon. Outside of an injury last year that cost him a good part of the season, Niemann was exactly as advertised. He ended up leading the Packers in special teams tackles despite only appearing in seven regular season games. And special teams are really the only place you want him. His one snap on defense last year came against the Bears in a high-leverage situation, and he ended up giving up a key completion. But Niemann is basically an as-advertised player: he’s going to give you exactly what he is and nothing more, and what he is is a special teamer. At 29, he probably doesn’t have tons of time left, but he can be a worthwhile special teams player for the Packers or someone else for at least a couple of more seasons. I think he leads the Packers in special teams tackles again this year.
Hopper, meanwhile, is probably the living embodiment of the Packers’ third round curse. In two years, he’s basically spent no time on defense and has been a seat-filler on special teams. This year, his pro future is probably on the line. If the Packers get anything out of him at all at this point, it’d be huge, but I’m not counting on it, and I doubt they are, either.
It’s telling that he hasn’t been able to surpass Isaiah McDuffie, which, to be fair, might be harder than it seems. On the one hand, McDuffie is certainly a limited player, but on the other, he’s assignment sure and well-trusted by the Packers staff, which makes him a tough out. If Hopper can’t find his way into a role this year, he’ll probably be off to greener pastures for one last attempt, and then out of the league. If he sticks in Green Bay, and I think he will, he’ll be under 150 defensive snaps again.
The Isaiah McDuffie, Trusted Veteran tier
Speaking of Isaiah McDuffie, here’s the man himself. I’m a big fan of guys like McDuffie, who I’d describe as a “ceilinged veteran.” He’s not a bad player, per se, but he’s maxed out his abilities. He is what he is, and that’s fine. You can live with a guy like that, and a lot of teams do. The best thing about McDuffie is you know exactly what you’re going to get, for better and for worse, and you can play around him. I think hitting 75 tackles is doable for him this year, as is appearing in all 17 games and cracking 200 snaps on special teams.
But to further the point about McDuffie’s value, consider what it’s like to plan an NFL defense. If you have a guy like McDuffie on the field, that means you’ve got at least one guy among your 11 where you know exactly what he’s going to do and what you’re going to get, and the more players like that you can put on the field, the easier it becomes for your actual studs and difference makers to do their jobs.
Consider Edgerrin Cooper. You want him to do the Edgerrin Cooper things he does so well: running fast, blitzing the quarterback, and making plays wherever he can. But if the linebacker you put on the field with him is a liability, it limits his opportunities to do those things because you have to use Cooper to account for the shortcomings of his running mate.
McDuffie is not without his shortcomings, but he’s dependable in a way that allows you to plan around him, and every player you can get like McDuffie has a positive compounding effect on your defense. You can’t make a whole team out of them, but you know, at the very least, that you aren’t going to do any worse than McDuffie.
The top tier: Zaire Franklin and Edgerrin Cooper
That brings us to the top of the linebacker depth chart, where we find Zaire Franklin and Edgerrin Cooper.
Franklin might face the biggest questions this year. Is he a declining veteran? Was he miscast in the Colts’ defense last year? Is he both? Neither? Somewhere on the spectrum between? The answer carries a lot of weight.
At 30, it seems like a safe bet that he’s at least some version of a declining veteran. For a guy already dealing with the limitations of being a small-ish linebacker, you certainly don’t want to be on the wrong side of 30. Betting on some decline seems to make sense, and statistically it did look like he declined a bit last year.
But on the other hand, the Colts brought in a new defensive coordinator in 2025 and just about everybody on their defense declined. And among that weakened defense, Franklin still led the Colts in Pro Football Focus’s “stops” metric. He may have declined, but he was still one of their more effective defensive players.
The stakes are pretty low for Franklin in Green Bay. As a player, he’s done basically everything a guy can do. He’s signed the big contract, been a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro, and maxed himself out, talent-wise. Short of winning a Super Bowl, he’s seen and done it all.
But for the Packers, the stakes are higher. They’re counting on Franklin to be about as good as Quay Walker, and trading for Franklin after watching Walker leave in free agency amounts to basically a one-to-one swap. If Franklin can be a stabilizing force in the Packers’ defense, a plus version of Isaiah McDuffie who doesn’t screw things up for them, I think that is basically a successful move. And he’s going to have every opportunity to fill that role, as he’s already assumed the green dot role in the Packers’ defense.
If Franklin can stay healthy, I think he’ll end up leading the Packers in tackles (say 135 or more) and recording a dozen or more ballhawks. I’m pretty high on him, and I think reuniting with Jonathan Gannon is going to be a good thing for him.
He's got his money. He's done about everything you're gonna do as a professional football player. He's been a Pro Bowler. Short of winning a Super Bowl, he's done everything that you can do, and he's got- gotten paid well to do it. But the Packers have made a moderately big bet here, maybe even a significantly big bet.
Finally, what is Edgerrin Cooper?
Heading into year three, I think we’re at a point where it’s fair to wonder what the real version of cooper is. Is he the guy who got All-Pro votes as a rookie or is he the more reserved player we saw in 2025? I don’t know the answer, but I think it’s interesting how impactful his injury in the Packers’ Wildcard round loss to the Bears seemed to be. Everything shifted after he went down, which is a not-insignificant data point.
Cooper (and his agent) will likely be thinking contract extension in the fairly near future. Next season is a contract year, and they’d doubtless like to get something done sooner than later. And if he plays well this year, it wouldn’t at all be surprising to see him ink a new deal before the start of next season. But to get there, he has to put a positive trend on tape. He has to show the playmaking stuff from 2024 is the player he is, not the more conservative version from 2025.
For their part, the Packers desperately need Cooper to be good. They’ll need playmaking on defense with Micah Parsons out to start the year, and it’s going to have to come from somewhere. It might as well be Cooper.
He succeeds this year by showing that 2024 wasn’t a mirage. Cooper neds to be the playmaking, lighting fast, decisive linebacker of his rookie season, and I think he will be. 125 or more tackles seems like a fair start for him, as well as 15 or more ballhawks (counting tackles for loss), two or more sacks, and two or more interceptions.