2024 NFL Draft: Does Cooper DeJean Make Sense For the Jaguars?

What would Cooper DeJean bring to the Jaguars' secondary?

The 2024 NFL Draft season is upon us.

Among the 32 teams building their rosters to compete for the next Lombardi Trophy is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who hold nine picks in this season’s draft -- including the No. 17 overall pick.

As we march closer and closer to April’s draft, we will look at individual draft prospects and how they would potentially fit with the Jaguars. Instead of looking at any negatives, we are going to look at what the players do well and if they could match what the Jaguars need at the specific role or position.

Next up: Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean.

Overview

Ranked a four-star recruit by 247Sports, DeJean was ranked the No. 149 player in the 2021 recruiting class. He was also ranked the No. 8 safety prospect and the No. 3 prospect in Iowa, leading to him receiving offers from the Hawkeyes, Illinois State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State. 

After appearing in seven games as a freshman in 2021, DeJean had a legitimate breakout season in 2022. Starting 10 games at cornerback and appearing in 13 games overall, DeJean recorded 75 tackles, three tackles for loss, five interceptions, eight pass-breakups, and a school-record three interception return touchdowns. 

Starting 10 games at cornerback before a late season-ending leg injury, DeJean was named a consensus All-American and First-Team All-Big Ten after 41 tackles, two tackles for loss, two interceptions, and five pass breakups. 

What Cooper DeJean Does Well

It isn't hard to find DeJean when you turn on Iowa's defensive tape. DeJean has been one of its biggest playmakers for year and flashed week in and week out, showing the type of talent and play-making ability to stand out in the secondary. A big reason for this is DeJean's ball skills and ability to force turnovers, with DeJean playing the ball in the air as well as a wide receiver thanks to his hands, balance, and spatial awareness. 

In coverage, DeJean is at his best when he is able to read the quarterback's eyes and jump routes. He is explosive when moving downhill and undercutting routes and passes and frequently made quarterbacks pay for getting too lax in their reads or decision-making. 

DeJean does more than just feast in zone coverage, though. He is an extremely physical cornerback who flashes the ability to pin receivers to the sideline as well as limit yards after the catch, displaying reliable tackling downhill and in space. 

How Cooper DeJean Would Fit With the Jaguars

There is no question the Jaguars need to invest in their secondary at some point this offseason. 2023 nickel cornerback Tre Herndon is a pending free agent, while Tyson Campbell and Darious Williams are entering contract years. 2022 seventh-rounder Montaric Brown showed promise as a backup last year, but other young cornerbacks like Gregory Junior and Christian Braswell are unproven. 

Add in the fact that the Jaguars' secondary will likely need to be readjusted due to a vastly different scheme under new defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, and it would make sense for the Jaguars to add a cornerback early on in the 2024 draft. 

Would DeJean be that corner? That remains to be seen. Iowa ran more zone coverage than anything else, and DeJean thrived in that regard. He reads quarterbacks maybe better than any cornerback prospect in the last several years, showing the instincts and feel for routes to undercut passes and force turnovers. DeJean didn't look like the type of cornerback who thrived when forced to move laterally and match routes downfield, though, so there are some questions that have to be answered.

With that said, DeJean also has the physicality and tackling consistency to live on an island. While it is unfair to him for so many analysts to paint him as a safety convert, he does show the ability to bring down ball-carriers one-on-one in space and near the line of scrimmage, giving him versatility along the secondary. 

Verdict

There is obviously a lot that can happen between today and the draft to determine draft stock and final grades, but it is hard to imagine a scenario where Cooper DeJean doesn't enter the draft as one of its 32 best players. He has position versatility, tackles well, has ball production, and even offers special teams versatility. 

If the Jaguars are going with a true man coverage-based scheme, I have some questions about how DeJean would fit just due to the type of athlete and cover corner he is. He is better attacking downhill and reading the quarterback as opposed to sticking in the hip pocket of receivers on an island. 

I probably lean toward him being a good player but a bad fit for the Jaguars, though he would obviously have value in the first round depending on how the board shapes up.

For all of our 2024 NFL Draft profiles, click below.

• Oregon OL Jackson Powers-Johnson 
• Illinois DL Jer'Zhan Newton