GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper has made the most of his limited opportunities.
The Packers can’t wait to see what the rookie second-round pick from Texas A&M will do next.
In his return after missing three games, Cooper recorded a sack and his first career interception in Sunday's 30-13 victory at Seattle. Pro Football Focus gave him the highest grade of any NFL player regardless of position for that week.
“My plan is just to go out there and have fun,” Cooper said afterward. “I’ve been doing this a long time. It’s just football, at the end of the day. Go out there and do what I need to do.”
The performance at Seattle earned Cooper NFC defensive player of the week honors for a second time, making him the first Packer to earn that award multiple times in one season since Clay Matthews during Green Bay’s Super Bowl championship run in 2010.
Cooper’s other NFC defensive player of the week recognition came after he had a sack and forced a fumble to help the Packers to a 30-27 win at Jacksonville in his first career start.
He has been on the field for less than 36% of the defensive snaps for the Packers (10-4) because he missed three games due to injury and didn’t get much playing time early on. Cooper has played more than two-thirds of Green Bay’s defensive plays in just one game this season.
Yet he still ranks fourth on the team in sacks (3½) and sixth in tackles heading into Monday night's game against the New Orleans Saints (5-9).
“I think he’s just scratching the surface of what he could become in this league,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said.
Cooper’s ability to stuff the stat sheet is evident from his season totals. He’s the first rookie linebacker to have at least three sacks, an interception, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble since Patrick Queen in 2020, when he was with the Baltimore Ravens.
The only other Packers rookie to reach those benchmarks since at least 2000 was A.J. Hawk in 2006.
“He’s a playmaker, so somebody that we're definitely leaning on and expect to make a lot of plays for us,” defensive lineman Kenny Clark said.
Cooper’s playmaking skill comes primarily from the exceptional speed that earned him the nickname “Flash” when his peers noticed his ability to play from sideline to sideline.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley cited a recent play in which Cooper was about 8 yards away from a receiver when a screen was thrown. By the time the pass arrived, Cooper was already there to make the play.
“He can eat up the grass really fast,” Hafley said. “Sometimes he might not be in the right position, but he has that ability to make up for it. The more he learns, the better he gets. He's going to get better and better and better. He's really matured and developed.”
His speed and knowledge of the game helped him earn first-team Associated Press All-America honors at Texas A&M last season.
“He’s got two gifts," said Jimbo Fisher, who coached Cooper at Texas A&M. "One, he can process and is very instinctive. And two, if he’s ever a half-step wrong or a step wrong, he’s usually got the burst to change.
“And he has length to be able to cover taller guys and run down the field with modern-day tight ends and some of the inside receivers they put on him. That’s a big advantage, too. Linebackers who can play in space and tackle in space are worth their weight in gold now.”
Cooper was playing tailback as well as linebacker when Fisher recruited him out of Covington (Louisiana) High School. Fisher believes Cooper could have excelled at either position.
But his aptitude for defense has been apparent from the start.
“He loves contact,” Fisher said. “The physical side of the ball, he never shies away from. And he’s a smart guy. He can learn.
“I always say this about linebackers. You can learn everything you want, but there’s so much instinct to being able to diagnose and process information. He’s always been able to do that. There’s a naturalness to linebackers, and sometimes you can’t coach all of that, you know what I’m saying? They can just process it and sort of do it. He’s always been able to do that.”
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Green Bay Packers' Edgerrin Cooper is congratulated after an interception during the second half of an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Green Bay Packers' Edgerrin Cooper intercepts a pass during the second half of an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Green Bay Packers' Edgerrin Cooper celebrates after an NFL football game against the Seattle Seahawks Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hours to go before a midnight government shutdown, the House was voting late Friday on a new plan from House Speaker Mike Johnson that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, but drops President-elect Donald Trump's demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.
Johnson insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. But the outcome was uncertain. Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal — if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closures “start now.”
“We will not have a government shutdown,” Johnson said ahead of the vote.
It's the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered House speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. And it raises stark questions about whether the House speaker will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry GOP colleagues, and work alongside Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who have called the legislative plays this time.
Johnson had almost no choice but to ignore Trump's last-minute pressure for a debt ceiling increase. The speaker knows there won’t be enough support within the GOP majority to pass any funding package, since many Republicans prefer to slash federal government, and won’t allow more debt.
Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate next year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.
“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” scoffed Musk on social media ahead of the vote.
The new 118-page package under consideration would fund the government at current levels through March and adds $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.
Gone would be Trump’s demand for a debt ceiling, which GOP leaders told lawmakers would be debated as part of their tax and border packages in the new year.
It's essentially the same deal that flopped the night before in a spectacular setback — opposed by most Democrats and some of the most conservative Republicans — minus Trump's demand to lift the debt ceiling for two years.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries had been in contact with Johnson, but heading into the evening vote Democrats were cool to this latest effort after the Republican speaker reneged on their original bipartisan compromise.
“Welcome back to the MAGA swamp,” Jeffries posted.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said it looked like Musk, an unelected official and the wealthiest man in the world, was calling the shots for Trump and the Republicans.
“Who is in charge?” she asked during the debate.
Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the incoming administration's new Department of Government Efficiency.
“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now,” Trump posted early in the morning on social media.
Trump does not fear government shutdowns the way Johnson and the lawmakers see federal closures as political losers that harm the livelihoods of Americans. The incoming Trump administration vows to slash the federal budget and fire thousands of employees. Trump himself sparked the longest government shutdown in history in his first term at the White House, the monthlong closures over the 2018-19 Christmas holiday and New Year period.
More importantly for the president-elect is his demand for pushing the thorny debt ceiling debate off the table before he returns to the White House. The federal debt limit expires Jan. 1, and Trump doesn't want the first months of his new administration saddled with tough negotiations in Congress to lift the nation's borrowing capacity. It gives Democrats, who will be in the minority next year, leverage.
“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump posted — increasing his demand for a now five-year debt limit increase. "Without this, we should never make a deal."
Johnson had tried at first to work around Trump's demands, and then appease them, but failed all around.
Trump and Musk unleashed their opposition — and social media army — on the original plan Johnson presented, which was a 1,500-page bipartisan compromise he struck with Democrats that included the disaster aid for hard hit states, but did not address the debt ceiling situation.
A Trump-backed second plan, Thursday's slimmed-down 116-page bill with his preferred two-year debt limit increase into 2027, failed in a monumental defeat, rejected by most Democrats as an unserious effort — but also by conservative Republicans who refuse to pile on the nation's red ink.
On Friday morning, Vice President-elect JD Vance and Trump's pick to be incoming Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought, arrived early at the speaker's office at the Capitol, where a group of holdouts from the hardline House Freedom Caucus were meeting with Johnson.
But several conservatives left, unusually speechless about the path ahead.
Later, during the lunchtime meeting of House Republicans in the Capitol basement, Johnson asked for a show of hands as they determined the path forward, Republican Rep. Ralph Norman said.
Government workers have already been told to prepare for a federal shutdown which would send millions of employees — and members of the military — into the holiday season without paychecks.
President Joe Biden, in his final weeks in office, has played a less public role in the debate, drawing criticism from Trump and Republicans who are trying to shift the blame for any shutdown on him.
Biden has been in discussions with Schumer and Jeffries, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.
But, she said: “Republicans blew up this deal. They did, and they need to fix this.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the original agreement “the quickest, simplest, and easiest way we can make sure the government stays open while delivering critical emergency aid to the American people.”
The speaker's election is the first vote of the new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, and Johnson will need the support of almost every single House Republican from his razor-thin majority to ensure he can keep the gavel. Democrats will vote for Jeffries.
As the speaker twisted in Washington, his peril was on display. At Turning Point USA’s conservative AmericaFest confab, Trump ally Steve Bannon stirred thousands of activists late Thursday with a withering takedown of the Louisiana Republican.
“Clearly, Johnson is not up to the task. He’s gotta go,” Bannon said, drawing cheers. He smiled and cocked his head at the response, adding: “President Trump? These are your people.”
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)
FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for a photo with Dana White, Kid Rock and Elon Musk at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. The vote failed to pass. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
