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          The Julius Peppers effect: Packers hope Ahmad Brooks can step right in

          • Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff WriterSep 4, 2017, 11:20 PM
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              Rob Demovsky is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the Green Bay Packers. He has covered the Packers since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2013. Demovsky is a two-time Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year as selected by the NSSA. You can follow him on Twitter at @RobDemovsky.
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          GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Ahmad Brooks is just about the same age that Julius Peppers was when he signed with the Green Bay Packers in 2014.

          The 33-year-old Brooks believes he can have a similar impact.

          Peppers signed a three-year, $26 million contract with the Packers and fulfilled the entire thing, totaling 25 regular-season sacks and making two NFC Championship Game appearances.

          Brooks’ tenure might be more temporary; he signed a one-year deal worth up to $5 million with the Packers on Sunday after he was cut by the San Francisco 49ers late in training camp. Brooks doesn’t have the Hall of Fame pedigree that Peppers did, but his impact could be just as important to a Packers defense that badly needed pass-rush help behind outside linebackers Clay Matthews and Nick Perry.

          “Well, Julius Peppers is a beast,” Brooks said Monday. “He was like the No. [2] overall pick when he got drafted out of college. His intangibles are not like any other. But from what I saw the past two or three years when he came here, he set the edge pretty good, he ran to the ball, he was a force to be reckoned with. He averaged about 7 or 8 sacks a year, and I believe I can do the same thing. So we’ll just have to see.”

          Brooks’ production was similar with the 49ers; he recorded between 6 and 8.5 sacks in each of the past six seasons -- one of them, 2013, was a Pro Bowl year.

          Monday was Brooks’ first practice with the Packers, although coach Mike McCarthy said he was at Lambeau Field all weekend working with the coaching staff.

          “We’ve had an opportunity to compete against him a bunch,” McCarthy said. “So, he’s been here all weekend, getting acclimated. So, I think he’ll be an excellent contributor to our defense.”

          That the Packers’ Week 1 opponent this Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks, is a familiar one to Brooks from the NFC West, also could ease his transition.

          It was also the first practice for another new outside linebacker, rookie Chris Odom.

          Odom was claimed off waivers from the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. It will be a bigger ask of Odom to be able to play right away against the Seahawks.

          “I’m going to have to adjust a little bit from [playing with his] hand down to a stand-up outside linebacker,” Odom said. “But after more repetition, I’ll handle that just as well as my hand in the dirt. Just more repetition and consistency and it should be no problem.”