Report: Chris Russell signing with Green Bay Packers, joining former Texas A&M football star, fellow LB Edgerrin Cooper
We may just have an all-Texas A&M football linebacking corps up in the NFC North soon. After going without being selected in the 2024 NFL draft, linebacker Chris Russell has reportedly played his way into a contract with the Green Bay Packers. He joins Edgerrin Cooper, their second-round selection from this previous year, as another Aggie LB in Green Bay.
NEWS: Former Texas A&M standout linebacker Chris Russell is signing a three-year deal with the Green Bay #Packers, his agent Kimberly Williams tells @_MLFootball.@C_russellll24, is 6-foot-2, 235 pounds, & was a force at A&M. pic.twitter.com/7CjAmKEEyD
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) August 13, 2024
This is a welcome development for Russell, who flashed some big time potential while at Texas A&M, but lacked consistency. One play, he would look like a star in the making, and the next he would be getting caught up too easily in the wash.
That potential was always there, though, and Russell quietly took some big steps over this previous year. Even though he didn’t start, having Taurean York and the aforementioned Cooper ahead of him on the depth chart, he was still making some big plays, especially in the Arkansas game.
Russell is very gifted athletically, but has taken a while to learn the LB position. Under the tutelage of DJ Durkin last year, who—despite the many complaint Aggie fans had about him as a DC—was a great linebackers coach, he looked to have improved rapidly. Even so, there were still enough questions that he did not end up being selected in the draft.
It’s an encouraging sign, though, that Russell has been made an impact to the degree that the Packers have already elected to sign him. Hopefully, this is a long-term for the former Aggie LB, and he and Cooper will roam the field in Lambeau for quite some time.