July 10, 2026, 5:45 a.m. CT<\/p>\n
Cooper DeJean is one of the most talented players to put on an Iowa<\/a> uniform in the last decade. So far, that talent has translated over to the NFL better than many anticipated.<\/p>\n DeJean was a two-year standout with the Hawkeyes<\/a>. He amassed 120 tackles, seven interceptions, and 13 passes defended as a defensive back. DeJean was also an electric punt returner, averaging over 13 yards per return. The Odebolt, Iowa<\/a>, native was named an All-American after a stellar junior campaign and entered the NFL draft following that 2023 season.<\/p>\n DeJean’s ability to make splash plays led to the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> selecting him in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. He\u2019s flourished in Philly, totaling 144 tackles, three interceptions, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles in 32 regular-season games.<\/p>\n The Iowa product’s high-end play, along with a pick-six of Patrick Mahomes in the Eagles<\/a>‘ Super Bowl LIX victory over the Chiefs<\/a>, has risen DeJean to star status. And it\u2019s not just fans that are taking note of his performance.<\/p>\n After conversations with coaches, executives and scouts, ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler compiled a list of the top 10 cornerbacks in the NFL<\/a> heading into the 2026 NFL season. Those NFL decision-makers ranked DeJean as the 10th-best corner in the entire league. Here\u2019s what they had to say about the former Iowa star:<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n DeJean’s presence on the list was a hot topic because of his positional flexibility. Is he a safety or a cornerback? He played mostly slot corner last season, but the Eagles plan to play him as a safety in base coverage and a slot corner in subpackages.<\/p>\n Since defenses are subpackage-heavy nowadays, and DeJean clearly has high-end cornerback traits, he remains a corner on our list. He appeared in 50% of the top 10 submissions for the position.<\/p>\n “He holds his own at any position, on the inside or outside,” a veteran NFC coach said. “He’s a corner because of the way he plays. [The Eagles] play a lot of man, and he ain’t shying away from nothing. He has the range and speed to play outside all day, too. He’s a Swiss Army knife.”<\/p>\n Along with Mitchell, DeJean is the first Eagles cornerback to make first-team All-Pro since Lito Sheppard in 2004. DeJean led all slot cornerbacks in catch rate allowed (61.4%), passer rating allowed (55.4) and yards allowed per coverage snap (0.72). He has not allowed a passing touchdown as a slot cornerback over two seasons. – Jeremy Fowler, ESPN<\/p>\n DeJean sliding into the top 10 corner rankings after only two years in the NFL is indicative of how quickly he\u2019s adapted to the next level. One executive even ranked him as high as third on the list. He\u2019s been an excellent addition to an already strong Eagles defense.<\/p>\n DeJean will look to turn in another strong year as the Eagles pursue a second Super Bowl victory in three seasons. Their defense, led by DeJean and fellow young stud Quinyon Mitchell, will be the driving factor of that.<\/p>\n Contact\/Follow us\u00a0@HawkeyesWire<\/a>\u00a0on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions.\u00a0Follow Zach on X:\u00a0@zach_hiney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"July 10, 2026, 5:45 a.m. CT Cooper DeJean is one of the most talented players to put on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":791274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[202558,64,63,593,369301,85,372779,245725,203469,224210,210944,222354,362869,203148,365024,224218,224225,224221,203146,224207,203142,202563,203499,240255,203139,202561],"class_list":["post-791273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-accessfree","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sourcehawkeyes-wire","tag-sports","tag-sstssportscollegehawkeyesfootball","tag-sstsnfootball","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagbig-10-hub","tag-tagbig-ten-conference-football","tag-tagcollege-sports","tag-tagcooper-dejean","tag-tagespn-inc","tag-tagfootball","tag-tagiowa","tag-tagiowa-hawkeyes","tag-tagiowa-hawkeyes-football","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagncaa-big-ten-conference","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagphiladelphia-eagles","tag-tagsmg-timely","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}