Cooper DeJean doesn’t just sit near the top of the Eagles’ 2026 most important list because he’s talented. He’s there because he’s the kind of player the defense can keep moving around without losing a beat.
After a pick-6 in Super Bowl LIX on his 22nd birthday, DeJean followed it up with an All-Pro season in Year 2. Now 23, he’s heading into his third NFL season already looking like one of the league’s best defensive backs, and the Eagles are set to use that versatility again in 2026.
DeJean usually lives at nickel, but he proved this year he can handle more. He played outside cornerback when the Eagles needed him there, and with Riq Woolen added in free agency to stabilize the CB2 spot, the plan now is for DeJean to open in the base package at safety before sliding back to nickel.
That switch comes with a learning curve, and DeJean acknowledged that this spring.
“It's not that easy,” DeJean said this spring. “I'm not just going out there and playing it at a high level. There's still things to learn, and that's what OTAs are for.
“I'm trying to learn. Obviously, there's a lot more space than playing nickel and even corner.
You're coming from top down and giving a lot of space to guys, whoever you're covering. So it still is taking some getting used to.
But I feel like I've prepared myself since I got here to be ready whenever my number was called to play that position.”
Safety isn’t foreign territory for him, either. He opened last training camp there in the base defense before Vic Fangio eventually moved him to outside cornerback in 2025.
That kind of flexibility is exactly why Fangio can keep finding new ways to use him. DeJean is already a strong nickel corner, so anything he adds at safety or outside corner is a bonus.
His usage last season showed just how many places he could line up. Per PFF, DeJean’s snaps came at slot, wide, box, D-line and safety, with the bulk coming inside.
Here’s how DeJean’s snaps broke down last season, per PFF:
Slot: 685
Wide: 245
Box: 138
D-line: 27
Safety: 1
In 2025, DeJean started 16 games and finished with 2 interceptions, 16 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble, 93 tackles and 4 TFLs. That production earned him his first Pro Bowl selection and his first All-Pro honor, alongside fellow second-year corner Quinyon Mitchell.
The challenge now is simple enough to say and hard to pull off: get even better in Year 3. DeJean is one of several Eagles entering their third season in Fangio’s defense, and that continuity should only help.
“Being able to play in the same defense, for us this will be our third year now, it seems like there's more and more things you can do each year as you go on and you figure out the ins and outs of the defense and how everybody works together. You can do a lot of different things, which we've been doing some of those things. And I feel like we've meshed well together and we're playing a lot better together as we've gone on throughout the years in this defense.”
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