Hyde and Seek: Without Edgerrin Cooper, Packers Need Evan Williams to Continue Rise

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2024, Bobby Babich had just become the Buffalo Bills’ defensive coordinator. One of the safety prospects in that year’s draft class was Evan Williams.

“I remembered evaling him coming out of college, and I knew he was a dang good player,” Babich, who’s in his first season as Green Bay’s secondary coach and defensive passing game coordinator, told Packers On SI on Friday. “He’s obviously showing the world right now that the Packers made a good choice.”

A fourth-round pick in 2024, Williams has gone from good (all-rookie) to really good (team-high three interceptions in 2025) to bordering on great. With Edgerrin Cooper out with a torn Achilles, Williams did what the best players do by making some pivotal plays in Green Bay’s victory over Tampa Bay.

Williams was a factor deep with one interception and one additional pass breakup. And he was a factor at the line of scrimmage with a sack and quarterback hit on the final series.

That’s an elite safety skill-set.

“As a safety, being one-dimensional is not as sexy as being two-dimensional,” Babich said. “My opinion over my years is that you’ve got to be a threat deep and you’ve got to be a threat at or near the line of scrimmage. And generally, if that’s the case – if you can affect the game both in deep zones and at or near the line of scrimmage – that to me is really what an all-around safety is all about.”

Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams (33) celebrates a sack of Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jalon Daniels. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Williams is off to a great start. He might have to find another level to his game without Cooper for the rest of the season.

“You’re losing a guy who’s a tone-setter, a game-changer, just somebody that comes out every game and sets the tone in the run game and in the pass game, is extremely instinctive, is flying all over the field,” Williams said this week. “It’s not easy to replace a guy like that, but I feel like the first thing that comes to my mind is just having trust in everybody.

“It’s a next-man-up type of league. You can’t completely alter your game plan because you have one person out. For the most part, it’s just about trusting that next guy is going to do exactly – I don’t know if you’re going to say exactly what Coop is capable of doing – but just understanding that he’s going to do his job, and being able to play off those guys. It’s all about physicality. We’ve got to show up.”

From defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s perspective, adjusting to life without Cooper will be about how much the rest of the defenders can take on without slowing them down mentally.

“That’s always kind of a give-and-take,” Gannon said. “Like, how much is too much, where you’re making them think too much and not just play free and fast? So, I always think, ‘What’s the intent of the call? What’s the strength? What’s the stress?’ As long as they know that and they can get to the technique that they need to use by what their eyes are seeing, then you feel pretty good about doing some of the things that we’re doing.”

Williams has shown he can handle a lot, whether it's a sack against the Bucs or a deep pass breakup at the Jets. It’s why he’s conjured up comparisons to another midround draft pick who wore No. 33 for the Packers.

Micah Hyde.

Hyde was a fifth-round pick in 2013 who had four quality seasons with the Packers. His game hit new heights with Babich and the Bills, including a pair of All-Pro seasons.

“I think with the situation in the fact that they were drafted, where they were drafted, and ba, ba, ba, ba, ba and, obviously, getting drafted by the Packers,” Babich said. “It’s funny, Micah just FaceTimed me two nights ago. But I would say situationally, their games aren’t 100 percent the same, but the way they impact the game is very similar.

“The way that Evan has impacted the game thus far, I would call that similar. I think their games are a little bit different. Every safety that I’ve ever coached is not shaped the same way and their games are all a little bit different, but all the really good ones that I’ve coached – and I’ve been pretty fortunate to coach some good ones – but he’s definitely trending upward he’s got to be consistent with it.”

For the really good safeties – and this was as true for Hyde as Xavier McKinney – the ball just seems to find them. That’s not luck but preparation and instincts combining with talent.

“Usually in the secondary, if you are disciplined during the snap – and I tell the guys this all the time – you don’t know when the ball’s coming to you,” Babich said. “So, the consistency and your discipline within the snap is going to allow you to be in position when that ball shows up. It might not be the 18th time, it might not be the 19th time, but that 20th time that you’ve got that rep, that ball shows up, you just got to be in position to make a play.”

Without Cooper and with Micah Parsons still working his way back, the Packers must find a way on Sunday. The Bears have injury issues, too, and what’s left of the Packers must take advantage to turn the tables on brash Ben Johnson’s rising team.

“It’s hard not to see it,” Williams said of Johnson’s disdain for the Packers. “But, personally, you know, it’s not me. I’m just somebody that doesn’t deal too heavily into the talking. Like, it’s easy to have a camera in front of you and say whatever you want. You know that’s not going to stop you from getting hit in the mouth on any given Sunday.

“And so, to me, it’s always been about the work, about how you show up on Sunday. The talk, it’s fluff to me. And, honestly, I just laugh. Like, ‘OK, you give me a little extra motivation,’ so that you know when I show up and come to pop one of the backs, it’s all right. Now that’s on my mind instead.”

You get what you pay for, as the saying goes.

Usually. But not always.

The NFL salary cap is $301.2 million. A huge percentage of the Packers' allotment will on the sideline vs. Chicago through, for the most part, no fault of anyone.⬇️https://t.co/XDjeQj5k1B
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 9, 2026

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