The Philadelphia Eagles have plenty of questions that need to be answered this offseason, and cornerback is a major one.
They have two staples in the secondary with Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. These two players are studs, and during locker room clear-out day, DeJean made it clear that he prefers to stick on the inside at slot rather than moving out to the outside.
"I like playing inside, being involved in the run game. And I feel like I have the abilities to do that at that position. But obviously, it's not up to me, but that's what I'd like to do," DeJean said, via Zach Berman of The Athletic.
Considering that DeJean was a First-Team All-Pro selection this season, the Eagles would be wise to keep him there and find an outside cornerback. But will they want to do that?
Cooper DeJean’s Makes It Clear He Wants to Play Slot CB Going Forward
Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio spoke about the idea of moving DeJean to the outside, but didn't sound like that's the lane he wanted to take.
"We considered it. 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," Fangio stated, via Berman.
And the Eagles tried moving DeJean to the outside in Week 12 against the Dallas Cowboys, but it didn't work out well for them. In that outing, he allowed four catches (five targets) for 148 receiving yards.
But when he was back in the slot, DeJean allowed 175 total yards on 49 receptions in the remaining 17 games. The Iowa product has also been effective in the run game, logging a 71.7 run-defense grade (26th among 114 graded cornerbacks) from Pro Football Focus.
The Eagles are better off keeping DeJean in the slot and finding another CB to put on the outside. He looks more comfortable there, and the results follow. The combo of DeJean and Mitchell has been very successful. And from the small sample size that we saw, DeJean wasn't as good on the outside.
He's an All-Pro caliber player on the inside and wants to continue there. Now the Eagles will be tasked with finding another defender to play opposite Mitchell.
Adoree Jackson is going to hit free agency, and Kelee Ringo isn't capable of being that guy. Jakorian Bennett and Michael Carter are depth pieces, highlighting the importance of finding the answer elsewhere.
DeJean logged 685 snaps in the slot and 245 snaps on the outside this season. It was the same trend in 2024, as he logged 773 slot snaps to just 8 snaps at wide corner, per Pro Football Focus.
The Eagles have played him in the slot, and he wants to stay there. Now the Eagles have to find an answer to their revolving door at CB2. And looking outside the organization for that answer would be the right choice.