The more you know, the further you go in life. That’s often true. We can agree on that, right? There are football comps. One of the lesser-mentioned is as follows. The more you’re capable of doing, the better your chances at sticking around for a while. Longtime Philadelphia Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland has affinity for all of his guys, but there’s something about versatility that forces a smile about the professor’s face. Oh if only Cooper DeJean had been born a lineman.
Coop’s versatility is just one of a few things that earned him mentions all season as one of the top defensive backs who would be entering the most recent NFL Draft. He’s truly a jack of all trades.
Now, he can’t play left tackle or anything, so Stout won’t be his position coach. We can assure you, however, that, despite that, Vic Fangio is smiling.
Philly’s new defensive coordinator values versatility just as much as the top O-line coach in the game. DeJean is going to bring a lot of that with him to Philly, but wisely, his coaches aren’t going to overload him with too full of a plate. It appears the rookie may have told us a little about Philly’s plans for him.
Cooper DeJean expects to begin his career playing primarily at corner despite having the talent to also play safety and as a punt returner.
At the time of this story’s release, we still have to travel through most of May. Much of the offseason Eagles workout program is still ahead of us. We’ve made guesses about the 53-man roster, but here’s the kicker. We have yet to see the Eagles’ schedule released.
That hasn’t stopped anyone from taking every opportunity to make guesses about what’s coming. When you grab guys like Cooper DeJean in Round 2, why would it.
The former Iowa star can play inside and outside at the cornerback position. He can play in the box or deep as a safety. He has tremendous talent as a returner. What might he find himself doing in Philly’s defense?
Everyone has asked that question. Everyone has answered the question shortly after asking. Here’s a theory from the great Les Bowen.
It makes sense. Don’t overload the young man with too much and do so too early. Philly is loaded with talent. Versatility is, again, appreciated, but it makes sense to have him master one task before assigning him another.
We’ll see how things go. What we do know is this secondary seems a lot more stacked than it was prior to the NFL Draft.
Not only is it believed that the second-rounder will make an immediate impact. Philly’s first draft choice, Quinyon Mitchell, was mentioned as someone who could win Defensive Rookie of the Year. We’ll see what happens, but it’s hard not to get excited.