He’s been asked the same questions for a couple of weeks now: How close are you to having a role on the defense? And Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean gives basically the same answers.
“My body feels good, and I’m just doing what they ask me to do,” is DeJean’s typical stock answer. “That’s up to the coaches to determine my role. I’m just going to continue to get better each and every practice.”
He did admit to getting more reps in practice as the days have gone by, so maybe there will be another set of questions the rookie gets asked after Monday night’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. Such as: How did it feel to make your first NFL start?
It could happen. If it does, it will be in the slot because that is where DeJean has spent his practice reps.
The slot wasn’t played particularly well by veteran Avonte Maddox in last week’s win over the Green Bay Packers, but a lot of that probably had to do with Maddox spending most of the summer getting reps at safety.
DeJean was working with the first team in the slot during spring’s OTAs, but a hamstring injury surfaced before training camp opened in July, forcing him to miss three weeks.
Head coach Nick Sirianni talked about just having a feel for when DeJean could be ready to transition from the six snaps he got on defense against the Packers to a snap load closer to 80 percent or more.
“It’s not just knowing what to do when you’re sitting here (in the meeting room),” said Sirianni, “it’s knowing what to do when the picture’s changing, what if they come out in this formation? What if they come out in that formation? So, there’s more to it than just say hey what do you do on this overage? Boom. Well, that did the receiver do? What is the formation? What was the motion? Is there a shift?
“There are so many things in there, so it’s important we’re all on the same page. He’s getting there, he’s getting close and we’ll see how the game plays out this week, but he’s stringing together some nice practice in a row.”
DeJean got his NFL feet wet on special teams, playing 23 snaps for Michael Clay’s units.
“It was kind of cool to get out there and get my first real game action,” he said. “It was on special teams obviously, but that’s something I take pride in. It’s a huge part of the game, so it was good to be out there.”
Don’t be surprised if the second-round rookie is out there even more on defense on Monday night.
