One of the biggest debates about Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean has been about his position. Could he stay at the outside cornerback position where he became a unanimous consensus All-American, or would his skillset be better suited for a move to safety?
For the Philadelphia Eagles and Cooper DeJean, they couldn’t care less, just get him on the field.
On draft night, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman declined to give a specific position for his second-round draft pick.
“I think whatever he does he’s going to do at a high level,” Roseman said late Friday night. “Obviously, we’ll get him in here, and like everything else on this team, see how the pieces fit when Coach (Nick Sirianni) and his staff get their hands on these guys.”
Position changes aren’t anything new for DeJean. He came to Iowa as a safety after playing the position all throughout high school. Iowa would give him his first action on the field as a sophomore in their CASH position, the Hawkeyes’ special hybrid position that takes elements of the slot corner, safety, and linebacker positions.
DeJean excelled in the role early. Early that season, injuries to Iowa’s secondary forced DeJean to move to the outside, opposite of current Denver Bronco Riley Moss. Once again, DeJean excelled right away. The next year as a full-time starting outside cornerback, DeJean was named an unanimous consensus All-American.
Of course, this all comes after DeJean’s true passion in high school was being a quarterback. The Odebolt, Iowa, native was debating on going to schools smaller than Iowa to play quarterback until defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Phil Parker convinced him to become a Hawkeye.
For DeJean, those transitions are just normal. He isn’t locked down to one position. He’s simply a football player.
“I’m a football player,” DeJean said Friday during a Zoom interview. “You put me on the field and I’m going to go play football, whether it’s inside, outside, at safety, wherever it is.”
While he’s excited to simply get out on the field and play for the fans at Lincoln Financial Field, don’t think that DeJean wouldn’t love a shot to show everyone that he can be a lockdown corner.
But, ultimately, he’s ready to help wherever needed.
“If they put me out there, I’ll be excited to play out there on the edge at the corner position. If I don’t, there’s no hard feelings,” DeJean said.
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