The Eagles youngest player made a big impact early in his career

PHILADELPHIA – It would be easy for Cooper DeJean to let the moment get too much for him. He’s just 21 years old, the youngest player on an Eagles team that gets younger every year and not even two months younger than the next youngest player, Jeremiah Trotter, Jr.

DeJean won’t turn 22 until February 8th, shortly after Trotter reaches that “ripe” age on December 24th. However, the Iowa rookie has made a big impact on the defense since being thrust into the starting lineup after the bye week. .

“It’s crazy to think about 21-year-olds playing against grown men,” DeJean said. “But I think just growing up, I feel like my parents helped me mature from a young age. They taught me how to work hard, they taught me to stay humble, and coming from a small town, I feel like those are things you have to have, especially when you have such big dreams.”

The Eagles didn’t show age when they drafted him in the second round, trading two premium picks away to NFC East rival Washington to move up to the 40th overall pick.

So how does someone so young and, like DeJean, look even younger, get to where he is today?

Born in South Dakota, DeJean and his family moved to Ida Grove, Iowa, a small town of just over 1,000 residents where cattle are king and there are no traffic lights, only stop signs and yield signs.

His parents nurtured his big dreams, keeping him and his two brothers busy with chores and hard work to become a football standout.

“Our parents knew we really liked sports, so they pushed us hard to work on those things because they knew that’s what we liked,” DeJean said. “These are the things that have pushed us to work hard. They knew we had dreams and if you want to achieve those things, you can’t get there without working hard.”

From time to time he would go over to a friend’s house to help feed their cattle, but other than that his chores were the kind of things any normal teenager would do, like mowing the lawn, doing the dishes, and many others. He went to the University of Iowa, which helped his game get even bigger.

He played all three positions in the secondary during his years with the Hawkeyes and was a consensus All-American in his final season. He was also a finalist for the Bronco Nagurski (nation’s best defensive player) and Jim Thorpe (nation’s best DB) awards. He was the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year with 41 tackles (26 solo) and two interceptions.

In his career, he had seven interceptions, three of which he returned for touchdowns, 120 tackles (85 solo) and 20 passes defensed in 30 games, 24 of which were starts.

Perhaps it’s a coincidence that the Eagles are 2-0 since DeJean was inserted as the starter following the Eagles’ bye week. Heading into Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals (1 p.m./CBS), he has 10 tackles with half a sack and a quarterback hit.

“He’s very coachable,” Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “I have a good attitude to play. I think that’s a strength of his and he’ll get better. And I think the more he plays and the more experienced he gets – you try to expose him to as many things as you can in training, but obviously with low reps in training, you don’t always do that.

“But I think he’ll learn – he won’t be a repeat offender. If he makes a mistake with something new, it will be in his memory and it won’t happen again.”

There are things DeJean needs to work on from his slot position, such as man-to-man coverage. He did well in zone defense, which was a defense primarily run by Fangio against the Giants.

“I have to continue to improve on my techniques, especially in man coverage,” he said. “It’s something that I’ve tried to work on and really collect the information that the offense gives us.

“The more reps I get, I’m starting to figure out what an offense is trying to do to us, understand the areas where they can hurt us in certain coverages and think play within the play. The more comfortable you are there, the more you can think about it.”

So far, so good. Especially for a player who is only 21 years old.

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