Cooper DeJean shares what gave him ‘chills’ before the Super Bowl — and what Chiefs fan Caitlin Clark said after it

Eagles rookie Cooper DeJean made quite the name for himself in his first year in Philadelphia — from earning a starting spot to becoming one half of the “Exciting Whites” to securing a pick-six in Super Bowl LIX on his birthday. Now, the 22-year-old cornerback is ringing in the offseason the same way several other Eagles players have: making the media rounds.

Fresh off the Super Bowl parade, DeJean joined former NFL players Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor for the latest episode of The Pivot podcast. The episode began with DeJean arriving in a “Quinyonamo Bay” hoodie — a nod to fellow rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell — and telling the world that Saturday’s recovery from the parade was “a little tough.” Here’s what you missed …

After the Eagles’ one-sided win over the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, DeJean’s phone began to blow up with text messages from friends and family sending birthday wishes and congratulating the rookie.

But there was one message that stood out — from his fellow Iowa Hawkeye Caitlin Clark. After he was drafted, DeJean, a former high school basketball star in Iowa, caught some heat for claiming he could beat Clark in a game of one-on-one. And even though Clark found herself rooting for the other team — being a lifelong Chiefs fan — she still showed love to DeJean after the win.

» READ MORE: Cooper DeJean’s Super Bowl TD could get him a street named in his tiny Iowa hometown

“I mean, I think us going to Iowa together, I think she was just saying how she was proud of me, congratulating me,” DeJean said. “Not only that I scored a touchdown, but winning the biggest game in football in my first year. So, I appreciate her for sending that message even though she’s a Chiefs fan and she claimed that she was cheering for them throughout the game. But it was cool to get that message from her.”

As a rookie, DeJean has been lucky enough to only know one thing: winning. The same can’t be said about the players who were on the February 2023 Super Bowl team that suffered a 38-35 loss to the Chiefs — including Jalen Hurts, Brandon Graham, and Lane Johnson. The night before the big game, players took the time to meet together and speak in front of their teammates. Hurts used that moment to relive the life-changing Super Bowl loss. DeJean said his unusually emotional teammates helped inspire him.

“It gave me chills, damn near made me emotional,” DeJean said. “Just watching those guys up there talking about their experience last time and the way it made them feel. You hear Jalen talk and Saquon [Barkley] every once in a while, and B.G. — but those other guys, you don’t hear them talk like that or get emotional and get up in front of the team and say things like that. So, I think it just inspired me. Even though it was the night before the game, I was ready to go, ready to play right at that moment just seeing how last [Super Bowl] made those guys feel and not wanting them to feel that again.

» READ MORE: Jalen Hurts’ life-changing experience and other moments from Eagles’ pregame Super Bowl speeches

“I think that really inspired a lot of the guys in that meeting room. Just seeing those guys get up there and talk. Seeing the guys get emotional about how much this game means to them and how hard it is to get to that point. Me, it’s my first year. I don’t know anything else besides going all the way to the Super Bowl and winning it.”

“Are you fighting for equality?” Crowder jokingly asked as everyone on set broke out into laughter.

“I kind of got used to it by now,” DeJean said.

DeJean is one of just a handful of white cornerbacks in the NFL and one of just two starters — the other is Broncos’ Riley Moss, a fellow Iowa product.

“That’s kind of what has come with it, I guess — me being white and playing corner — that’s kind of what came with all of it. Riley did it before me. He got drafted third round the year before me, and I played with him at Iowa. I never really doubted myself because I was a white guy playing corner. It never really crossed my mind when I started playing because I came in as a safety and then I got moved to corner and it didn’t really cross my mind that I was a white guy playing corner. It was just me going out there and playing ball.”

» READ MORE: The legend of the ‘Exciting Whites’: How Eagles Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean formed a bond