No one celebrated their 22nd birthday like Philadelphia Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean.
In the second quarter of Super Bowl LIX, the cornerback picked off Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Patrick Mahomes and took it to the house to give the Eagles a 17-0 lead. It was DeJean's first NFL interception, and it came on the day he turned 22 years old.
The play made DeJean the first player in NFL history to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl on their birthday.
DeJean's interception return yards (38) were nearly double the number of total yards the Chiefs had gained so far in the game (20). Less encouraging, though, was the precedent of the last Super Bowl pick 6, when Robert Alford intercepted Tom Brady in the Atlanta Falcons' infamously blown 28-3 lead in Super Bowl LI.
The Eagles selected DeJean, a unanimous All-American at Iowa, with the 40th overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft. A versatile defender with strong ball skills and one of the country's best kick returners, DeJean was seen by many as a first-round talent, but instead fell to the Eagles in the second round.
That turned out to be one of the biggest steals of the draft. Pro Football Focus rated DeJean as the second-best cornerback in the entire NFL during the regular season, behind only Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II. Not only was DeJean an instant standout at cornerback for the Philadelphia defense, he also ranked 12th in the league in punt return yards.
And now he's contributed a pivotal play in a Super Bowl. Jayden Daniels and Jared Verse might have won the NFL's Rookie of the Year awards, but it's hard to imagine any rookie enjoyed themselves as much as DeJean this year.
