The DC said there wasn’t enough practice reps to know for sure, but he felt it was time to see what Cooper DeJean could do.
The Eagles finally gave rookie DB Cooper DeJean his first career start on Sunday against the Browns, and made a big splash and huge impact. His debut was delayed after the team’s second-round draft pick suffered a hamstring injury that sidelined him through training camp, but he had been working his way onto the field gradually before jumping in last week.
When asked how he knew DeJean was ready for a bigger role, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio admitted, “I didn’t.”
The DC explained that DeJean was getting limited reps as the backup — reps that were further reduced because of the condensed practice schedule as a result of a short week following ‘Monday Night Football’ and then the bye week —, so eventually it was time to just try it out.
FANGIO: “You’ve got to practice, and the only way to really get him ready in practice was to put him in there and get him the reps. Because if he’s the backup, you can’t get many reps when reps are at a premium, anyway.
So, it was just, in my opinion, time to put him in there, and let him get all the preparation, and see what he can do.”
DeJean’s first career start resulted in six total tackles, three solo, one QB hit, and 0.5 sacks. He was flying around the field and making really good decisions for someone with so little in-game experience on defense. Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke about how the rookie’s energy was on display.
SIRIANNI: “I just saw his youth and his energy.
Now, did we make some mistakes? Sure, we made some mistakes. But I saw him flying to the football. I saw him being physical and violent when he got to the football. And that’s for a lot of the guys, but I’m thinking about Coop in my mind right now.
When that happens, that can be really exciting because you’ve got youth and energy just flying around to the football. But it’s our job as coaches and their job as players to learn the plan, try to put themselves in situations.
We try to put them in situations so that we’re accelerating that play as much as we possibly can as far as the football IQ goes. And that’s where walkthrough comes in, and practice comes in.”
Fangio may not have known before Week 6 that DeJean was ready to be the Eagles’ starting nickel cornerback, but the rookie surely proved that he deserves to keep the role.
