Mel Kiper Jr. raves about what Edgerrin Cooper brings to NFL
Edgerrin Cooper put together a breakout season for Texas A&M last year, setting career-highs in tackles and TFLs. It got him some first-round consideration in this year’s NFL Draft, and ESPN’s Field Yates projected him to go to the Dallas Cowboys in his Mock Draft 1.0 earlier this week.
Cooper put up huge numbers for the Aggies in 2023 with 84 tackles, 17.0 tackles for loss and 8.0 sacks. He had just 0.5 sack in his previous three years, which showed the leap he took as a senior in College Station.
To ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. – who put Cooper at No. 20 on his latest Big Board – his NFL potential goes beyond the numbers. He pointed to his size and athleticism as reasons he can succeed at the next level.
“Flies to the football, diagnoses quickly like he’s shot out of a cannon, gets sacks off the edge,” Kiper said on First Draft. “DJ Durkin, former coordinator, moved around him, had him off the edge getting after [Jalen] Milroe, [Jayden] Daniels, all the quarterbacks. He’s out of the Louisiana prep ranks. Did a heck of a job there. Length – 6-3 with really long arms. … Length for an off-ball linebacker, when you talk about 6-3 with these incredibly long arms and wingspan, what does that do? You get a finger on a pass.
“Deflect it, and keeps that away from being a reception. You intercept the pass, you affect a quarterback sight lines, you affect that quarterback in ways that the shorter inside linebackers can’t, off-ball linebackers can’t. And you have the versatility, as I said, to move him around and get after the quarterback. He closes in a hurry, and he flies around the field.”
Why ESPN’s Field Yates projected Edgerrin Cooper to the Dallas Cowboys in his Mock Draft 1.0
Kiper agreed with Yates’ projection of Cooper to the Cowboys, especially considering their lack of depth at linebacker. Dallas lost Leighton Vander Esch and DeMarvion Overshown to injuries a season ago, and that created issues at linebacker the rest of the way.
With Mike Zimmer coming in as defensive coordinator, Yates pointed out two comparisons Zimmer knows well to illustrate his point.
“As I was going through team needs and talking to our various NFL Nation reporters about what they viewed as team needs, Mel, the fact that the Cowboys are so thin at linebacker and after hiring Mike Zimmer, I’m thinking about Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks want to make this pick,” Yates said. “That’s what I was thinking about when I put Edgerrin Cooper 24th to the Dallas Cowboys.
“I love the player. I think he’s going to absolutely, as I said, smash it in Indianapolis in just a few weeks. If that happens, Mel, it wouldn’t surprise me if people have him viewed, like you do, at 18th on your overall Big Board.”