"The Packers defense was a pitiful 31st in the league in interceptions (7) and 26th in forced fumbles last season."

When I saw 7 interceptions by the defense at the end of the season my first thought was this. If you play 10 yards off on 3rd and 4, you're not going to be in a position to intercept the ball! What the hell did you expect Joe Barry? Especially if you never ATTACK!

"I've been thinking about the rookie I'm most excited about and have settled on Edgerrin Cooper."

Me too Al. I'm pretty excited about Bullard too but Cooper is a different breed. We now have an ILB who can really do it all. I'm still holding out hope for Quay Walker and I think this defense will really suit him well. But if it doesn't and he's just an average Joe, Gute drafted another guy in the 3rd (Hooper) that could maybe step in next season if Walker doesn't get a LOT better this year.

There's Gutey always thinking AHEAD!

Al I agree that this defense should lead to more turnovers but there also is the greater chance of big plays against it.

I prefer an aggressive defense that might give up the big play over the safe defense we have had. Yes I will get aggravated by the big plays but in the end I hope to be happy.

I hope Love shows up to work out with the rookies. There isn't too much risk in that versus the rewards for getting them started out right. I think he will. Someone here commented earlier that they might want to save the announcement for family night. Will they wait that long? Either way I think it's a done deal. I don't know the cap ramifications, but maybe it helps if they wait longer?

I'm excited about how the rookies AND second year guys are going to do with the new D. Not to mention all the rest that were hamstrung previously.

A more attacking D will bring more excitement. There may be some added risks, but a passive D that takes what the offense dishes out didn't exactly bring any better results, so I'll welcome the new fun and tension it brings.

Barry was bad. But so was every DC since 2010.
They didn’t pick the draft picks.
They played the hand that was dealt to them.
The obvious- Get Clark Help.
You can’t expect turnovers, if the guys up front are missing.

Why stay tuned. Even a Civil defense warning.
Couldn’t change your mind on Love’s value.
We don’t need to think this out anymore.
It will be MLF and his play calling, if he can’t live up to it..

Love the Cooper Hype -
He’s Already made the packers Hall of Fame.
I’ll take Walker for leading Tackler.

Cooper can get to the QB fast. He has the smarts and can diagnose quickly. He was everybody's guy when we started the draft speculation. I still believe Hopper will create some smoke. Gary will work well in this 4-3/Hybrid and Brooks is a natural defensive end. Let Wyatt move freely and stunt. He had 5.5 sacks . You don't draft one picks to eat up blocks. The Seven INTs in 2023 was depressingly, underwhelming and a reason I wanted a CB in Rd Two. Walker was over-drafted.

Edgerrin Cooper is the most exciting rookie, but Javon Bullard may be the most important. It's been a long time since the Packers have had a safety as good as Xavier McKinney, but he can't do it all himself. He needs a competent running mate. Safety is a difficult position to play as a rookie, but I'm hoping that Bullard's experience at Georgia against high level competition has prepared him to make an impact as an NFL safety right off the bat. I know there are three other safeties who could win that job, but Bullard is the one who is most likely to have a chance of being really good as a full-time starter.

GB ranked 16th in time of possession, which happened to be the lowest of playoff teams except for TB. If Hadley’s defense can create more turnovers I would expect TOP to improve significantly. And the really important stat, points scored.

I'm as excited as anyone about the purported aggressive play style a Jeff Hafley defense will bring to Green Bay. But, I'm tempering my early expectations until the team learns how to play in a new system, especially the young guys. And we have a lot of young guys. During the first half of the season, I expect to see some great plays along with some really frustrating "what the hell just happened" moments. The team needs to grow into this defense and, hopefully, by the end of the season they'll be shutting opponents down.

Edgerrin Cooper should win a starting spot on the defense. If not, I'm worried. One player I'll be watching is Kilan King. Not because I expect him to be a starter, but I think he's an intriguing player who could be a contributor on this defense. The question is, just how much?

I'm hopeful but will need to conserve my emotional energy until I witness reality.
No jitters re: Love & his merry band of WRs, though.
I'm also impressed with MLF these days.

Thanks for the reminder on Ed Wood, Al, but I'm in the camp that says men our age should never ever apologize for or ignore any kind of wood.

I believe the Joe Barry defense missed a few chances to add to the interception total by playing corner backs around 10 yards off on third down and three yards to go. There were too many plays like that which just gave the opposition offense an easy pitch and catch with little to no risk of turning the ball over.

Both Cooper and Bullard are good choices to be excited about on defense, and on offense, Marshawn Lloyd for sure. The player I'm most curious about is Hopper; other than special teams, we're really not sure about how much playing time he'll get, but you would like to see some sort of justification for taking him in the third round as opposed to say, a CB.

Second year player to get excited about: Van Ness. Andy Herman did a good job breaking down the areas needed to make that second-year jump in a podcast last week, so I would encouraged interested fans to give it a listen.

Well, Al, when defense stays a lot on the field, they become tired. Rarely, Packers get turn on result in the 4th Q. One game comes to my mind - vs Saints. And that is all.

Regarding D, I expect similar problems Packers had with thier O in the beggining of the last season. From alomst perfect games to very bad ones. Ups and downs... Once, players get the idea, I expect very good D, at least.

For me, most interesting players will be FA additions. How fast they will pick concepts of O and/or D. McKinney has advantage over Jacobs, as he is coming from very aggressive D in NY. Concepts of O are very different from Josh McDaniels one, so it is also worth of looking what Jacobs can do in MLF offense.

Al, thanks for the clarification on "Ed Wood"!

It was puzzling, to put it mildly, to read factual inaccuracies in articles written by presumably Packers writers. The recent article is not Ed Wood's first article on this site, and like the ones before, had quite a few head-scratching moments.

Now that mystery is cleared! 😀

I will look with a more kindly eye on future articles - yes, CheeseheadTV does an excellent job for us Packer fans, and I do not begrudge you any side revenue you can make.

I’ve read that some of these young guys, especially now with the transfer portal, are coming to the NFL already having learned at least a couple different systems, so hopefully that previous experience helps them get settled in quicker to Hafley’s D. And, if you believe what is said, there seems to be a concerted effort to make it as easy for them as possible. Not much thinking. Just go. Undoubtedly, there will be some growing pains early on, but it’s going to be fun watching it all come together.

I’ve read that some of these young guys, especially now with the transfer portal, are coming to the NFL already having learned at least a couple different systems, so hopefully that previous experience helps them get settled in quicker to Hafley’s D.
And, if you believe what is said, there seems to be a concerted effort to make it as easy for them as possible. Not much thinking. Just go. Certainly there will be some growing pains early on, but it will be fun watching it all come together. Very excited!

I'm still waiting on ST to get fixed AL......Ironically, I already feel the defense has improved with JB gone, sight unseen.