Sep 21, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Cooper Dejean walks out of the tunnel for warm ups against the Los Angeles Rams at Lincoln Financial Field. Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Eagles Talking It Out At CB

Originally posted on Philadelphia Eagles on SI
By John McMullen | Last updated Nov 6, 2025 2:32 PM ET

The Eagles made three defensive additions near the trade deadline but only one has an obvious role waiting for him in Philadelphia, new edge defender Jaelan Phillips.

The cornerbacks acquired – Michael Carter II and two-time former All-Pro Jaire Alexander – are more in the “we’ll see” category that has become a familiar refrain in head coach Nick Sirianni’s lexicon.

The acquisitions have been framed as more depth that will give well-regarded defensive coordinator Vic Fangio more ammunition to mix and match when game-planning each week, something Roseman indicated when talking with reporters after Tuesday’s trade deadline.

“What we're really trying to do is we're trying to be able to match up with all kinds of shapes and sizes at the wide receiver position in the secondary,” Roseman said. “When you have guys who can do that, it just gives you so much flexibility when you're going to play different teams and the different types of receivers they have, different types of tight ends, even backs coming out of the backfield.”

Cooper DeJean's Versatility

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni was asked Thursday if he’d prefer to have a consistent top trio at CB like the Super Bowl LIX winners had last season with Darius Slay and Quinyon Mitchell outside, and Cooper DeJean in the slot.

To little surprise, Sirianni leaned toward no preference between a static look and a piecemeal approach based on matchups each week.

However, it is interesting to contemplate what the architect of the 53 is thinking vs. the DC.

For Roseman, moving a rising star like DeJean outside makes it less complicated from a business perspective when it comes to a second contract after Year 3 and the import of Carter offers up a player with demonstrated performance in the slot.

Fangio has been vocal in not wanting to move DeJean because of the lack of depth behind the second-year Iowa product inside, a problem Carter may solve.

That said, Fangio’s goal is much more myopic than Roseman’s on a weekly basis.

“We considered it,” Fangio said last week when asked about moving DeJean outside.”But when you have one of the better players at a certain position, and it's an important position where you get involved more, you hate to take a really good player at one position to maybe not be as good of a player or impactful of a player at another position.

“But it's definitely something that we've talked about.”

Those talks will almost certainly continue.

This article first appeared on Philadelphia Eagles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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