Texas A&M football's Edgerrin Cooper continues to see stock rise; First round pick?

Texas A&M football: Edgerrin Cooper’s stock continues to rise ahead of NFL Draft

With the NFL draft rapidly approaching, by far the highest-rated prospect on the board for Texas A&M football is linebacker Edgerrin Cooper. After a huge 2023 season, the defender from Covington, Louisiana, has been shooting up draft boards as the athleticism that made him such an exciting prospect showed out on film.

Though the Aggies have several players in this class that could make themselves a great career in the NFL, their best shot at having a prospect taken in the first round of this draft, by far, is Cooper. As big boards continue to be updated by draft enthusiasts, it’s looking more and more likely that Coop could land in just that range.

Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com, in his latest big board, has Cooper as the 26th-best prospect in the draft. He’s got some high praise for Cooper. Here’s a bit of what he had to say about the standout defender:

“Cooper is an instinctive and explosive prospect who generates a bunch of splash plays. He's ready to start right away, and I believe his best football is still ahead of him.”

Of course, raw prospect ranking doesn’t always correspond exactly to draft order. You have to have a team right in that range that is in need of your skillset.

Wait—what’s that? What’s that you say? The Dallas Cowboys, who desperately need a run-stopping linebacker who can also rush the passer, are picking 24th in the draft?

Now, far be it from me to say that the Cowboys are even decent self-evaluators when it comes to their personnel needs. But they have done a great job in the draft recently!

As someone born into the fandom, I would love to see Coop end up with America’s team—it also helps that they are, in my estimation, not only the team most likely to spend a first on him but also a place that he will succeed pretty quickly. However, having followed them for quite some time, I don’t begrudge anyone who would want to see him… literally anywhere else.