Philadelphia Eagles rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean made one of the biggest plays of Super Bowl LIX with his pick-six of Patrick Mahomes. And this has directly led to some incredibly bold praise from NBC color analyst Cris Collinsworth.
During an appearance on Up & Adams with Kay Adams on Tuesday, Collinsworth spoke glowingly about the Eagles 2024 rookie class. But DeJean in particular caught Collinsworth’s eye, saying DeJean.
“The guys that they drafted this year, Quinyon Mitchell has just been a special player on the back end. Cooper DeJean may be the biggest steal in the second round we have seen in a draft. What he has done to sure up the slot position for that team. They were really not good a season ago in the slot. Cooper DeJean came back in there. C.J. Gardner-Johnson, I mean just names people wouldn’t talk about.”
“Cooper DeJean may be the biggest steal we’ve ever seen in the second round of a draft.”pic.twitter.com/ELpYGZqAfh
— Eliot Clough (@EliotClough) February 12, 2025
Very few would debate that DeJean was a steal where the Eagles selected him at No. 40 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. Perhaps even the biggest steal of his draft class.
However, when you talk about the biggest second-round draft steals in the history of the NFL Draft, DeJean certainly has a hard time stacking up against the likes of Hall of Fame players including Brett Favre, Michael Strahan, and Mike Singletary and shoe-in future Hall of Famers like Drew Brees and Rob Gronkowski.
While DeJean certainly has the makings of being a great player if he isn’t already, it’s an uphill battle to argue that DeJean is even the best former second-round pick on his own team, as Super Bowl LIX MVP Jalen Hurts was also taken by the Eagles in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Obviously, Collinsworth just wanted to highlight how highly he thinks of DeJean. But doing so by comparing him to some of the greatest players in NFL history certainly invoked quite the reaction from fans on social media.
Their own quarterback was a second round pick
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) February 13, 2025
This may be the biggest load of recency bias we’ve ever seen
— d allen (@cycloneD89) February 13, 2025
He’s had one season in the NFL can we relax? He’s been very good but best 2nd round pick ever is a STRETCH
— TD (@tyestakes) February 13, 2025
