Brock’s Seahawks Draft Profile: A ‘positionless weapon’ for Macdonald

Apr 11, 2024, 1:27 PM

Cooper DeJean returns an interception for a touchdown on Sept. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

(AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

Seattle Sports

The Seattle Seahawks will have a big decision to make with the 16th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, which will be the first of the Mike Macdonald era.

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Macdonald is the team’s new head coach after previously running the defense in Baltimore, and the focus of Brock Huard’s latest Seattle Seahawks Draft Profile is a defender who the former NFL quarterback thinks Macdonald would be very intrigued by.

“Cooper DeJean – linebacker, cornerback, safety, kick returner, punt returner, all everything, All-American from the University of Iowa,” Huard said during Thursday’s Brock and Salk on Seattle Sports.

Cooper DeJean can ‘do it all’

“He’s 6 foot 1, 205 pounds. He was an absolute monster from a small town … in western Iowa,” Huard said. “… He transitions to to be a Hawkeye and to be a developmental football player like so many from those small towns. But there wasn’t much development to be had. He jumped right on the scene pretty quickly. And he can do a lot of things.”

DeJean was a unanimous All-American at Iowa in 2023 as a cornerback. Before that, he played safety and linebacker, but a broken leg suffered during practice ended his 2023 season.

More on DeJean: Versatile players for Macdonald’s Seahawks defense

“We did not get to see Cooper DeJean run and jump and do everything he’s capable of doing (at the NFL combine) because if we did, I think you’d hear even more hype around this prospect out of Iowa,” Huard said. “He played in 2022 as their nickel linebacker and played a lot closer to the line of scrimmage. It was in that season that he had three pick-sixes. Pretty remarkable. The guy just has a feel for the game. He has a feel for the ball. He’s got a kick return touchdown, he led the country in punt return yards, he had a punt return touchdown before that injury short-circuited his final year there in Iowa City. So the guy is all around the ball.”

“His longstanding D-coordinator Phil Parker said, ‘Listen, it’s pretty simple. The guy is a humble perfectionist.’ I love that,” Huard later said. “Further quote from Phil Parker on my board: ‘The guy sees things faster than others.’ Another last one (from Parker): ‘Being such a multi-sports star and all that multi-sport data, it gives Cooper tremendous recall, tremendous athleticism that sets him apart.’ So you just start throwing this all into the pot – you look at what he can do as a returner, you look at what he can do as a nickel linebacker, you look at what he can do as a corner, you look at what he could possibly transition like so many of the guys in the Iowa secondary have over the years and to be studs at the safety level in the NFL – the guy can do it all.”

Why Mike Macdonald could like Cooper DeJean

During Macdonald’s two years as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator, he had a very versatile safety in Kyle Hamilton, an All-Pro who was a first-round pick in 2021.

“(DeJean is) not nearly as big as Kyle Hamilton. Kyle Hamilton out of Notre Dame was a top-15 pick at 6-4 and 215-220 pounds, and you’ve seen the influence and the impact he had there in Baltimore with Mike Macdonald,” Huard said. “So you are seeing some of those in the draft community and the scout community say, ‘Well hold on a second. If Mike Macdonald loves versatility, if Mike Macdonald wants interchangeable parts, if Mike Macdonald as he said a couple of weeks ago there at the owners meetings wants somebody that can blitz from any spot and be around the football at any time, golly it’s hard to find somebody in this defensive draft that can wear as many hats as Cooper DeJean.’ He will be fascinating to watch.”

“Could he play corner? Can he play safety? Can he play nickel? Can he play nickel inside linebacker? Can he be that jack of all trades? Can he be that weapon, that versatile positionless weapon that Mike Macdonald is looking for?” Huard later asked. “I think he can. I do I think he can.”

Huard noted that a lot of those conversations can be had about Devon Witherspoon, the team’s No. 5 overall pick last year who shined at outside and nickel corner.

“Can you have too many of those guys on your team? Probably not,” Huard said.

So where will DeJean get drafted?

“He’s more than likely not going to be off the board when the Seahawks pick at No. 16,” he said. ” … If you trade down from 16, will he be available later into the first round? Possibly. It may be only because of this injury has limited some of his exposure in this offseason. But Cooper DeJean is certainly someone to keep an eye on. Cooper DeJean is very, very different than so many in this draft. Cooper DeJean is a guy that is an unbelievable versatile talent and I think is going to be a stud at the NFL level.”

Listen to Thursday’s full draft profile of Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean at this link or in the player near the top of this story.