The Chicago Bears are looking for revenge in Week 16, taking on their bitter rivals, the Green Bay Packers, who suffered two losses in Week 15 last Sunday.
Not only were the Packers defeated by the Denver Broncos last week, but they lost All-Pro superstar pass rusher Micah Parsons to a torn ACL, completely changing the course of their defense.
With Parsons gone, the Packers will need to rely on other members of their successful defense, and there are still several playmakers who’ll be on the field on Saturday night. For this week’s edition of “Gimme Him,” we’re looking at another defensive playmaker for Green Bay, a second-round draft pick in 2024, linebacker Edgerrin Cooper.
In the Week 14 matchup against the Bears, Cooper led the team in tackles, picking up 11 on the game as he has surpassed his rookie season total of tackles already. While Cooper had 3.5 sacks and 87 total tackles as a rookie last year, he has been able to make more plays in the tackling department this year, totaling 105 in 14 games played, but only has 0.5 sack on the season.
Given the linebacker issues the Bears have had this season, Cooper would have given them incredible depth when veterans T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds were slated to miss time throughout this regular season. To their credit, the Bears defense has gotten surprisingly good play out of D’Marco Jackson and Amen Ogbongbemiga, but there would be no doubting the impact of Cooper in this Dennis Allen-led defense.
Adding Cooper to a starting core of Edmunds and Edwards, could give Chicago one of the best linebacking cores in the entire NFL, giving them three starters who the capability of having 100+ tackles each. Green Bay struck gold on their second-round pick out of Texas A&M last season, and he should be a starter for years to come in the NFL.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Gimme him: One player the Bears would steal from the Packers
Reporting by Mike Pendleton, Bears Wire / Bears Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
