GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will be shut out of the NFL’s major awards this year. Not even linebacker Edgerrin Cooper is a finalist for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Cooper spent too much time on the sideline to be recognized by The Associated Press’ voters. Green Bay’s second-round pick barely played on defense to start the season, then missed three-late season games due to injuries. Ultimately, he started only four of his 14 games and played about 45.1 percent of the defensive snaps.

When he was on the field, though, his production was impossible to ignore.

Well, the voters managed to ignore.

The five finalists:

Cooper DeJean, cornerback, Eagles: Played in 16 games with nine starts. He had zero interceptions, six passes defensed, one forced fumble, three fumble recoveries, one-half sack, three tackles for losses and 51 tackles.

Braden Fiske, defensive lineman, Rams: Played in 17 games with eight starts. He had 8.5 sacks, 10 tackles for losses, 10 quarterback hits, 44 tackles, two forced fumbles and two passes defensed.

Quinyon Mitchell, cornerback, Eagles: Played in and started 16 games. He had zero interceptions, 12 passes defensed and 44 tackles.

Chop Robinson, edge defender, Dolphins: Played in 17 games with one start. He had six sacks, eight tackles for losses, 14 quarterback hits, 26 tackles, zero forced fumbles and four passes defensed.

Jared Verse, edge defender, Rams: Played in 17 games with 16 starts. He had 4.5 sacks, 11 tackles for losses, 18 quarterback hits, 66 tackles, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and two passes defensed.

Cooper played in 14 games with four starts. He finished with 3.5 sacks and 13 tackles for losses among 87 total tackles. He added one interception, four passes defensed, seven quarterback hits, one forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.

Compared to the five finalists, Cooper ranked:

First in tackles (21 more than Verse).

First in tackles for losses (two more than Verse)

First in interceptions (the others didn’t have any).

Tied for first with Verse and DeJean with four turnover plays (interceptions, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries).

Tied with Verse for first in stops, a PFF metric that measures impact tackles (such as a first-and-10 tackle that holds the play to 3 yards or less). Verse played 344 more snaps than Cooper.

Third in sacks (but was No. 1 among all rookies in PFF’s pass-rushing productivity, which measures sacks, hits and hurries per pass-rushing opportunity).

Of course, an off-the-ball linebacker like Cooper should have more tackles than a defensive lineman (Verse, Fiske and Robinson) or a cornerback (DeJean, Mitchell). However, the defensive linemen should have more tackles for losses than an off-the-ball linebacker. Cooper dominated from that perspective, and finished with a flourish with a league-high eight in his last four games.

Cooper was No. 1 among all rookies in PFF’s run-stop percentage, the aforementioned PFF metric that matches Green Bay’s win/loss grading system. Verse had 28 stops on runnning plays (but played 135 more run-defending snaps). Cooper had 21 – as many as Fiske (12), Robinson (five), Mitchell (two) and DeJean (two) combined.

Cooper’s production was historic. His 13 TFLs were the most by an off-the-ball rookie linebacker since Tampa Bay’s Lavonte David had 20 in 2012.

He was the only rookie this season with at least three sacks, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery, and just the fourth since 2000. And he was the only player since 2000, regardless of experience, with 12-plus tackles for losses and 10-plus tackles on special teams.

According to Stathead, Cooper joined Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher and two-time Pro Bowler DeMeco Ryans as the only rookie off-the-ball linebackers since at least 1999 with at least 80 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 13 TFLs and four passes defensed.

Of the 22 players with 13-plus tackles for losses, only the Jets’ Quincy Williams had more tackles than Cooper. Cooper was the only player in the NFL, regardless of experience, with 80 plus tackles, 13-plus TFLs and three-plus sacks.

“He absolutely has gotten better every week, and that’s why he’s getting more and more time,” coach Matt LaFleur said late in the season. “It’s tough to take a player of that caliber off the grass. He makes plays, he’s got speed, athleticism. He can erase certain plays that may have hurt us in different areas. I’m just really happy with his progress. He puts a lot of time and effort into this thing.”