Cooper DeJean spent practice Wednesday in one of his least-favorite places.
The sideline.
DeJean doesn’t miss much when it comes to games or practices. In fact, this was the first practice he’s missed since the summer of 2024, when he missed much of training camp with a hamstring injury.
He had never missed a regular-season practice.
But he got banged up in the opener and is listed as dealing with calf and abdomen injuries.
“I hate it,” he said at his locker Wednesday. “I wish I could have been out there today. You’re missing a day, not getting the looks. So you’ve got to do as much as you can on the side, watching the reps and watching the film as well.”
DeJean missed practice but insisted he’ll be fine for the Eagles’ Week 2 game Sunday against the Titans in Nashville.
“I’m good,” he said. “Nothing crazy. (Felt) pretty normal after the game. Wouldn’t say (it affected me) too much. Yeah, not too much. That’s about all I got.”
Cooper said there was no correlation between the injury and an uncharacteristically poor performance for the 1st-team all-pro safety.
But he did allow that when he goes through a rare poor game he can’t wait to get back on the field for another chance to play.
“Yeah, I’m excited,” he said. “I think the way I look at it, I don’t really look at the things I do to do well each and every week. It’s all about the things that I can improve on.
“That’s been my mentality since I got here, since I’ve been in college. I’m just trying to fix things that I can from previous weeks and we’re trying to make sure that they don’t happen again. This is the NFL and you’ve got to be able to brush those plays off and play the next play and be ready to go each and every snap.”
It wasn’t the best day for DeJean and it wasn’t the best day for the defense, which allowed two 4th-quarter touchdown drives, gave up two 4th-down conversions, didn’t force a turnover, didn’t get a sack from the defensive line and allowed over 130 rushing yards.
It wasn’t a disaster defensively, but this group knows they can play better and they have to play better.
“I think just continuing to communicate and gel together,” DeJean said. “I feel like you’ve seen it the past couple years. Not saying that this year is the same, but just taking the reps early in the season in practice together and getting on the same page and then translating that to the field when the bullets are flying.
“I know for myself, especially. Just some of the things that we gave up that we shouldn’t have are completely fixable and coachable, technique wise. Even playing within the scheme together as well. It is frustrating to see, but we got this week to get better, and we’ve got to be ready for Sunday for good offense, good, talented players on their side.”
DeJean rejected the notion that not playing in the preseason hurt the defense. This unit has largely been together for three years under Vic Fangio.
“I don’t know if that was a huge factor in the way we played,” he said. “I felt like we were ready to go, well conditioned, something we preached all week, all offseason, really. Well conditioned. It’s just different going out there and live action, being able to react off of one another and play together in this game.
“And, you know, that’s something that I believe that we’ll continue to get better at throughout the season.”