Cooper DeJean 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Iowa CB

The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information. 

Here's our report on Cooper DeJean.

COOPER DeJean 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS

• Height: 6'1/2"
• Weight: 203
• 40-yard dash: 4.43 (pro day)
• 10-yard split: 1.53
• 20-yard shuttle: DNP
• Vertical jump: 38.5"
• Broad jump: 10'4"
• Arm length: 31 1/8"

COOPER DeJean 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

STRENGTHS

• Good-sized corner with outstanding versatility. In 2022, he played outside and the slot with snaps in the box.
• Played fast with quick reactions. Triggers quick with short-area burst and explosiveness. Subtle suddenness.
• Patient and poised, playing mirror match press man. Balanced knee bend matching the stem staying in phase.
• Quick feet in pedal in off coverage with fluid hips to change direction and plant and drive quickness and burst.
• High IQ player with an excellent understanding in zone coverage of receiver distribution and route concepts.
• Competitive and physical on the outside. Tackled with toughness both in the run game and driving on receivers.
• Played physical football with an outstanding playing personality on the outside, in the slot and in the box. 
• 2023 – Comfortable in press man. Played mirror match and physical press, getting his hand(s) on the receiver.
• Snaps in off coverage with smooth pedal and transition and change of direction. Reacted efficiently to routes.
• At his best in off-coverage, reading through routes to QB and reacting to throws. Instinctive zone defender.
• Played with high-level competitive mental and physical toughness. Played with a swagger and an attitude.

WEAKNESSES

• Struggled at times in man coverage out of the slot when in press. Reps he was beaten off the ball by quickness.
• Will vertical play speed be a concern? Can DeJean turn and run with vertical routes from off-press alignment?
• One area of improvement must be locating the ball on vertical routes. Did not get his head around effectively.
• 2023 – At times in press man, a little segmented opening hips to turn and run. Not as transition fluid as you like.
• Some press man reps he had balance and body control issues at top of the route stem losing contact with WR.
• There were mirror press man snaps on intermediate and vertical routes where he took too many steps to stop.
• Had some issues locating and playing the ball on vertical routes. Struggled to lean and locate on deep balls.

NFL TRANSITION

DeJean is one of the better overall athletes in the 2024 NFL draft, but he might not have all the requisite traits for the corner position at the next level. He has outstanding size, length, some twitch and explosive suddenness to his movement, although it was more straight-line linear than loose-hipped and fluid.

DeJean was at his best playing off coverage zone at a high level. He had excellent vision reading through the receiver to the quarterback and showed the plant, drive, quickness and burst to play routes in front of him. DeJean showed an excellent feel for route concepts and combinations in zone coverage, playing with outstanding eye focus and discipline. He reacted decisively to multi-receiver route combinations.

DeJean plays with physicality and competitive toughness, especially when moving forward with a little bit of a runway, and he will tackle with aggression. My sense is he is not a true press man corner, too often showing a little tightness in his hips and transition segmentation when opening his hips to turn and run with vertical releases. He did not show the sudden burst to recover and match the receiver through the route. DeJean would excel in press man in two-man coverage concepts where he could tailgate and undercut routes and use his excellent ball skills.

The question with DeJean is how he will be projected to the next level, with my sense that some teams will see him as a star (much like Jalen Ramsey was with the Rams), while others might project him at safety. I also believe he could be a full-time corner for a defense that features zone coverage concepts as its foundation.

The bottom line is that DeJean is a higher-level traits defensive back who could likely play well in multiple positions. His projection and transition will be a function of team and scheme, and his best fit early in his career could be as a safety in big nickel packages.

OTHER NOTES

DeJean stayed in-state after a decorated high school career in small town Ida Grove, playing quarterback and defensive back and being a state champion in the 100m dash and 4x100m relay. He only had football offers from Illinois State and South Dakota State and North Dakota State, with Iowa coming in late.

DeJean became a starting corner as a sophomore and was named second-team All-Big 10 by the coaches.

In 2022, DeJean was predominantly the left corner in Iowa’s defense, but he also played snaps in the slot and in the box, depending on offensive personnel and formation. There were sub-defense snaps in which he played on the ball on the edge and in the box as a MIKE LB. DeJean almost exclusively played left corner from the midpoint of the 2022 season.

In 2023, DeJean again almost exclusively lined up at the left corner in off and press man alignment, with a higher percentage of his reps coming in off coverage. There were games in which he lined up predominantly at right corner, with Purdue being one of those games. He played more snaps of press man versus Purdue.

Overall, DeJean has extensive experience playing both to the field and to the boundary and playing multiple man and zone coverage concepts.