Cooper DeJean embracing vocal leadership role in his second Eagles season

USA Today

3 days ago

Cooper DeJean, in year two, is ready to lead Eagles defense from the front.
You could watch football for another 30 years, and you may not see a more meteoric rise than we saw from Philadelphia Eagles star Cooper DeJean as a rookie. He went from being injured and unable to practice to stepping into the starting lineup after the bye week and crushing it. Seriously, we knew he was good. We had no idea that he would be this good.
Throughout a magical ride of a campaign, he buried Derrick Henry in the open field in a one-on-one, mano-a-mano meeting of alpha males. In the Eagles' final game, one played on football's grandest stage, he housed a pick-six interception off the arm of the man seen as the best quarterback of his generation.
That put the Eagles up 16-0 vs. the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. One could have placed him in the Super Bowl MVP conversation with Josh Sweat after that, as far as we're concerned. Then, Jalen Hurts threw 'the dagger' to DeVonta Smith, putting a capper on his night, and that took care of that. Make no mistake, though, DeJean, a finalist for the Defensive Rookie of the Year Award along with teammate Quinyon Mitchell this past season, is off to a hellacious start, and he's just scratching the surface of how good he can be.
Cooper DeJean wants to be more of a vocal leader in his second Eagles season.
One of the first things noticed about Philadelphia's defense is it's young. So many of its players are still enjoying their rookie contracts. The leaders are young, and that's a good thing. It will be fun to watch so much of this young talent grow up together, as they are still in their prime, yet.
Sign DeJean up for one of those leadership roles. He wants to be more vocal in his second year. Something tells us he'll be a natural. He and his teammate and friend, Reed Blankenship, host their podcast, Exciting Mics, weekly.
As the Eagles enjoyed their fourth training camp practice, we learned that he cracked the NFL's Top 100 Players list, a ranking compiled through players' votes. In other words, he has the respect of his peers. That's pretty awesome.
IN 2023, DeJean was named a Unanimous All-American and as both the Big Ten's Defensive Back and Return Specialist of the Year. He also earned his second First-team All-Big Ten mention after previously winning the award a year earlier.
Year one in the NFL landed him on the PFWA All-Rookie Team. We'll love seeing what he does for an encore. Big things are expected and rightfully so.