Eagles Film Review: Where is Cooper DeJean’s best fit in the secondary?

A closer look at Philadelphia’s second-round pick.

With the 2024 NFL Draft over, it’s time for some film rooms on the Philadelphia Eagles’ rookie class. I will try and get to all nine draft picks and some UDFAs over the next few weeks. Loads of scouting reports will say very similar things, so I have tried to include film clips to back up everything and I will talk about the player’s fit with the Eagles at the end of the piece. I manage to get the all22 on several rookies, but I can’t share those clips on my own Twitter accounts (or I risk getting blocked), so I’ve used a few other accounts here. Let’s go!

Previously in this series: Quinyon Mitchell

Relative Athletic Score (RAS)

As a cornerback:

As a safety:

Both are elite!

Strengths

+ A former member of Bruce Feldman’s ‘freaks list’ which highlights the kind of athlete he is. As the list suggests… he’s a freak. How cool is this?

+ I get why there are question marks, but I think he’s fluid enough to excel as an outside cornerback. There are enough good reps on film like the first one here.

+ Very physical and competitive. He will hit hard and give you 100% effort wherever he plays.

+ Wants to press receivers at the line of scrimmage. He likes getting in the face of receivers and has reps where he runs the route for them, staying right in the receiver’s hip pocket.

+ Very strong route recognition and awareness in both zone and man coverage. He will jump out routes when playing deep outside coverage. He does a great job maintaining depth when playing in zone whilst also trying to take away the easy short stuff.

+ Reliable run defender and an outstanding tackler in the open field. He gets low and wraps up well.

If your outside corner can do this in run defense, that’s a massive win. This is outstanding.

+ Outstanding at the catch point. 20 pass breakups and 7 interceptions in the past 2 years.

+ He’s fun as hell with the ball in his hands. He can return punts, kicks, and return picks for touchdowns. He has even taken some offensive snaps!

+ He’s outstanding as a gunner on special teams, due to his athleticism and tackling technique.

Weaknesses

– He’s a little stiff which is why some consider him a safety or as a nickel. Sometimes he looks a little clunky when asked to change direction quickly. I wonder if it’s a technique issue because it’s not consistently poor. However, he didn’t do agility drills at his pro day which suggests he wouldn’t do too well in them…

– Can be a little too aggressive in grabby in coverage at times. Sometimes this happens on shorter routes, which could be linked to the above point.

– He will sometimes rely on his speed to bail him out if he loses at the LOS, but can’t do this as much at the next level.

Overall

I think DeJean will make it as an outside cornerback, but I don’t really care where he ends up. This was my summary of DeJean in my Draft Guide, and nothing has changed since watching him some more.

I don’t know if DeJean is twitchy enough with his change of direction to be an elite outside cornerback, but I’m not really sure I care. He’s a fantastic player and will make plays at outside cornerback, nickel cornerback, or at safety. The Eagles need good young players in the secondary, so I’d be happy with him at 22.

After watching him some more since the Eagles drafted him, I feel pretty good about his chances at outside cornerback. I think he can do it.

My only worry with DeJean is that his versatility is to his detriment. Sometimes teams can use players like DeJean to plug holes in their defense when they pop up due to injuries throughout the season. Whilst I understand this for the sake of the team, I think it can harm a player’s development. Vic Fangio’s system isn’t easy to learn for a rookie, and I would rather give DeJean a specific role to focus on and learn this year, before moving him onto other responsibilities.

Personally, I would use DeJean as an outside corner in year 1, and I think he’s ahead of James Bradberry and should start as the Eagles’ outside CB3 behind Quinyon Mitchell and Darius Slay. However, if the Eagles decided that he could immediately start as a nickel corner then I would be fine with them starting him there this year. I love Avonte Maddox, but I think DeJean could keep him out of the starting lineup as a rookie because I really believe in this player’s talent. I wouldn’t look to move DeJean to safety unless he consistently struggles as a corner.

Whatever happens, I just hope the Eagles don’t rush things with DeJean and allow him to properly develop at a certain position for the majority of the year. If that happens, the potential is sky-high with DeJean because he is a legitimately fantastic athlete with bags of upside. I would have taken him at 22, and I still don’t understand how the Eagles managed to get him at 40. Howie Roseman deserves huge credit for trading up for him when he had the chance, and I’m not sure what the other 31 general managers were thinking.