Eagles Should Consider An Expanded Role For Second-Year Star

Cooper DeJean can play at a high level throughout the secondary. Why not let him?

Oct 19, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) is unable to make a catch during the second half after being blocked by Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cooper Dejean (33) at U.S. Bank Stadium. | Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles’ answer at CB2 is right under their nose.

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has been hesitant to move Cooper DeJean outside because the second-year standout is so good in the slot.

To date, the math has been who’s better? Adoree’ Jackson or Kelee Ringo outside the numbers or Parry Nickerson, or rookie Mac McWilliams inside?

Expanding The Equation

You know Fangio’s answer to that question through seven weeks and a 5-2 start for Philadelphia but what if you change the math by using a different equation?

During Sunday’s impressive 28-22 win over Minnesota DeJean played 21 of his 59 coverage snaps outside with the highlight being a nice breakup of a potential Justin Jefferson touchdown catch in which DeJean used textbook technique to play through the hands until the completion of the catch, something that resulted in one of the best receivers in football losing control before finishing the TD.

The idea is for DeJean to graduate to a matchup-dependent role vs. simply a role.

In other words, if the opposition for the week has a better slot option than a WR2, you can keep the status quo. However, let DeJean handle the outside more frequently than just the base defense when that's not the case.

The Iowa product is already almost there as evidenced by those coverage snaps against the Vikings

And the role can be more drilled down than that, making it play by play if the offense liberally moves a particular receiver from X or Z to the slot.

During his second season, DeJean is already entrenched as one of the Eagles’ best pure football players who happens to have amazing versatility to play CB, safety or slot.

So why not utilize that unique ability to move across the formation instead of honing in on one specific part of his impressive skill set?

And a silver lining to the expanded thinking is the business of football because outside CBs get paid more than slot players, and that means DeJean will not be able to prove his worth league wide in advance of his second contract. That scenario makes it incumbent for Philadelphia to either admit DeJean is more than just a slot player or try to play hard ball and use the salary numbers for that position as template which could cause issues if unchecked.

Keeping your best players happy is never a bad thing so an expanded role for DeJean shapes up as a win-win. .

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