Super Bowl sensation Cooper DeJean might have been too honest about his thoughts on those he went up against in practice.Cooper DeJean-mania kicked off on Super Bowl Sunday and hasn’t slowed down yet. For all of the Tom Brady-Patrick Mahomes comparisons floating around cyberspace, DeJean’s infamous interception in the Big Game lets him have his own say.
Of course, the most important thing is whether the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs. Not only did they accomplish that, but they managed to defeat Patrick Mahomes with such a force that fans have reason to doubt his otherwise nearly spotless resume.
DeJean gets a lot of credit for his interception that resulted in seven points. Had Mahomes instead scored a touchdown on that drive midway through the second quarter, it might have been a different game. Instead of a 17-0 score, it easily could have been a 10-7 score. At that point, all bets are off.Still, DeJean deserves a vicious head nod for blowing the game open for the Philadelphia Eagles. Some of the success might be going to his head just a little bit.
Cooper DeJean on his teammates
Speaking on a February 18 edition of “The Pivot,” the cornerback spoke about his early moments in the NFL as the rubber met the road. Eventually, he realized his teammates were just people, and people can be beat.
He said: “When I first got here, I was a little starstruck lining up against those guys. And I was a little too nervous. I wasn’t being myself. Those guys were working me out there on the field.“So once I got comfortable and you realize these guys are just like me like these guys are athletic dudes who play football just like I do. They’re going to make mistakes.
I think just my confidence just grew over time.”“I just was lining up like, ‘all right, let’s do it. Let’s line it up. It’s me and AJ Brown.’ Let’s just go at it, whoever was in the slot. But those guys made me better throughout the course of training camp and throughout the season.” he continued.“The first part of the season, I was on the scout team going up against those guys, I think it gave me really gave me the confidence like I can really do this and start for this team.
It helped me when I did start after Week 5, got out there and just allowed me to play confident,” he added.To be fair, DeJean did give credit to the wide receivers to helping to get him ready to play in the big leagues. However, any suggestion that calls into question their talent on any level is playing with fire.AJ Brown has had just one non-1000 yard season since 2019.
DeVonta Smith has logged 1000 yard seasons in two of the last three years. Hinting that these players are anything less than star is dangerous, but DeJean still went there.Cooper DeJean’s most impressive moment of the pick-six was long after the pluckThe cornerback snatched Patrick Mahomes’ pass out of the air like a wide receiver with 7:11 left in the second quarter. He was sitting underneath and had no trouble squeezing the ball.
However, despite the intensity of the moment, he managed to act after catching the pass.He could have reversed directly up the field, settling for a turnover that set up the Eagles offense near the end zone. Instead, he reversed field, running to the opposite sideline and up through Chiefs defenders.It looked like DeJean surely would be tackled short, but managed to split between two Chiefs defenders and dive into the end zone.In multiple moments, he could have come up short after catching the pass. Instead, he milked every last drop of production out of the moment as it happened live.
