Cooper DeJean was a reliable tackler in his first two NFL seasons. This year, that part of his game has slipped, and the Eagles are looking at a noticeable change in a skill that had been one of his strengths.
DeJean was candid after Sunday’s loss to the Panthers when asked about it.
“I don’t know,” DeJean said after the loss to the Panthers on Sunday afternoon. “I just have to find ways to get guys down.
Part of it is different angles and where I’m hitting the guys. But I have no doubt that I’m going to continue to work on that and fix that.
I’ve continued to work on it the last couple of weeks especially and will continue to, to be better in that area.”
There’s no official NFL tally for missed tackles, since the stat is subjective. Even so, the numbers paint an ugly picture.
ProFootballFocus says DeJean has 12 missed tackles this season, most in the league. Among 82 defensive backs with at least 300 snaps, he sits at the top of that list as well, and his 24.5% missed tackle rate ranks third-worst in that group behind only Tre’Von Moehrig (30.8%) and C.J.
Gardner-Johnson (25.7%).
That’s a sharp drop from his previous two seasons:
2024: 11 missed tackles in 19 games (13.8%)
2025: 11 missed tackles in 17 games (10.9%)
2026: 12 missed tackles in 6 games (24.5%)
Stathead’s chart tells a similar story. It has DeJean with seven missed tackles this season, which is tied for second-most, compared with just 14 across his first two full NFL seasons combined.
Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio pointed to one possible reason for the downturn.
“There's just been a few more than usual,” Fangio said. “He did get that stinger when he had to come out of the Rams game, I believe it was. I think that's affected him a little bit.”
DeJean, 23, was hurt in that Rams game and missed a few snaps. The next week in London, he had his roughest tackling performance of the season, missing five tackles in one game according to PFF. That makes Fangio’s explanation worth considering.
Fangio also pushed back on the idea that DeJean’s missed tackles are tied to more work at safety. He said the Eagles haven’t really been in their base defense much, so the position switch alone doesn’t explain the problem.
DeJean said he isn’t leaning on that as a reason, either.
“I still got to be able to tackle better and get guys to the ground,” he said.
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