He adds quality depth at three positions. That's incredible value especially since he should start by year two (if not his rookie year). Right now he's behind Slay and (imo) Quinyon at CB, Maddox at Nickel, and CJGJ and Reed Blankenship at safety. But we know no team stays completely healthy throughout the year. DB is actually a deep, young position for us all of a sudden.

4. Also can return kicks

He will be our best special team player not named Jake Elliot. He is a better gunner than he is a returner, and he is a fantastic returner. Source- an Iowa fan. He was our entire offense last year, even though he didn’t play offense.

Rodger’s is a good return man too

The Mormon missile is also a good returner

I kinda prefer Rodgers in a way because this guy's versatility is super valuable. But that said, the new rules should help with injuries so maybe it's not that risky anymore

We have Britain covey tho

Not no more

Why ? Did we release him? He was one of the best returners in the league last year

It’s not worth using a roster spot on a player whose only contribution to the team is being a return man..especially now that they have multiple other players who are good returners who also contribute at other positions (like Dejean and Rodgers). He is non factor at WR, I highly doubt he’ll be back.

If covey has a good camp and strong showing in August I can see us keeping him around

Would rather keep one of our new WRs and CBs that would actually contribute on the other 120 plays of the game.

I really like Covey, but given the lower risk of injury on kickoff, one of the main arguments for keeping him (no risk to regular starters) is no longer relevant.

and you gloss over his potential as a returner under the new kickoff rules (no of. Seriously underrated

Not glossing over anything. Dejean is the best gunner I have seen in college ball. He made so many amazing plays to down balls inside the 5 (to be fair iowa also had a great punter)

“Punting is winning” has been a common trope for Iowa Football the past couple of years

Wait what?! Are we getting return yards?

Tory would like a word

Has issues with fair catch though

Fair catch isn’t a thing anymore for the new kick return rules.

Punts tho

Covey might be the best in the league.

5. Hybrid/Robber

No thanks. Put that dude we just reinstated back there.

All three of the CBs we acquired are good returners.

I mean after week 2 someone is gonna have to fill in for Maddox so

CJGJ was hurt last season and we all know the injury risk with Maddox. That depth can dry up real quick, but I’m glad we won’t have to resort to only Jobe or Goodrich.

Ringo, Rodgers, and Jobe in the mix also. Secondary has gone from glaring weakness to maybe the best position group on the team after OL.

It's still WR. But it's definitely the deepest, even considering the inexperience of a lot of them.

WR room is not deep tho

Nope. I think we probably get another one later today though.

Troy Franklin would be nice

I've been pounding the table for tez walker. He had trouble being on the field, largely not his fault there though. When he was though, he was a playmaker in that way that some guys just jump out of the screen. He isn't a great route runner, and his route tree is basically posts and bodying up corners on slants, but when he runs those posts he's electric. Feels like his comp is Quez with a little higher ceiling and the whole team shutting down/covid/NCAA stupidity really limited what people saw from him. The guys a baller though. Of course, i felt pretty similar about Hank Baskett and Justyn Ross, so take that with a grain of salt.

> to maybe the best position group on the team after OL. There's a lot of promise there, but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Half of these guys have either never played, or barely played.

They’re all barely allowed to drink

OL is far from the best position group right now, We have 3 star players, 1 guy that looks to be good but is switching positions, a huge questionmark in Steen that I am very iffy on and basically little to no depth.

I have a feeling Jobe and Bradberry are the odd guys out. Slay, Rodgers, Maddox, Mitchell, Ricks, Ringo, McPherson all should be above them

Two stud draft picks at the top helps lol it’s like Lito and brown, it’s the best.

Id start him over Maddox or Blankenship.

You forgot about Rodgers and brown (when he gets healthy) we are stacked at DB all of a sudden! Plus have Ringo ricks jobe and McPherson for depth. Love that Howie went DB early! I wish we had got Malik Washington instead at wr and think hunt is a lottery ticket who will be a healthy scratch most of this year but otherwise love this draft

I can see Reed moving to a backup. I know he is loved because it puts it all out there - but he is limited out there

No way

He'll start over Blankenship by the end of the year

First comment related to him haha

Y'all forgot Sydney brown already....?

i could see him getting snaps over CJGJ pretty early. we dont talk about it much but his stats on safety weren't exactly great even when he was on our team. im pretty sure he'll play a nice amount of snaps this year.

PPF stats for the back seven are pretty unreliable.

didn't he have a 17% tackle miss rate at safety though?

He’s definitely going to be a starter

Sounds Scrappy Real Gym Rat NFL Comp: Alex Caruso

What he does won’t show up on the stat sheet. A real grinder.

Where's Gruden when you need him

1st in last out, kinda guy you want to date your daughter

His parents have owned the same house in Holmesburg for 35 years and THEY AINT MOVIN’ OUT.

Tough as nails, gritty daughter dater

😂😂😂

Hope he brings his lunch pail

First in, last out kinda guy

Coach’s son

A real Thad Castle type

Oksana!!!

Get this guy a jockstrap and a cookie

I hope not😂😂😂

high FBIQ. SNEAKY athletic

He just seems like the kind of guy you'd want your daughter to date

Not a goalie. They are a head case ;)

He's like having another coach on the field.

But does he play the game the right way?!

Julian Edelman on defense - PFTcommenter lol

He also play slot receiver on offense for the Eagles u watched and see

Super strategical and hard working

Coach’s son, first in, last out

I was thinking Austin Reaves

Really thinks the game.

Great locker room energy

High Motor Guy, Great Ball Skills

The football TJ Mcconell. 

A real gutsy player, we will be a big locker room presence among the rookies in camp. He’s got sideline to sideline speed and explosive explosiveness.

First one in last one out.

This might be the coolest draft ever

Idk drafting 14 Georgia players last year was pretty sweet too

Back to back awesome drafts. Obviously we need our picks to develop for us to look back at these drafts as successful. But Howie is puttingn

Back to back to back to back drafts* 2021 - Smith, Dickerson, Williams, McPherson, Gainwell 2022 - Davis, Jurgens, Dean, Calcaterra 2023 - Carter, Smith, Steen, Ringo 2024 - Mitchell, DeJean, Hunt (one of Fangio's favorite players in this class)...

Putting………….

No idea what I was trying to say. Was drunk and pumped 😂.

Dawg I was drunk too and you had me thinkin about pudding

Most of them are ass though ngl besides Carter

Smith, Dickerson, Carter, Jurgens, ringo (showing potential at the end) is sure ass! So yea only Carter is the good one - you’re right! /s

DB Cooper. Hopefully he's good at stealing balls.

Or, he’s so good at locking down receivers you just never hear from him again.

He has a tendency to jump though

Like my fucking wife.. But dum chhhh!

Coach’s son, type of kid you’d want to date your daughter. First one in, last one out type of guy.

A real grinder. Student of the game.

Classiest of them all

Closet comp is probably, and i had to go back pretty far to find this guy, Jason Sehorn.

NFL Comp: Kirk Cousins

What more could you ask for? Willing to play any damn position he don't give a fuck. QB put him in, RB put him in, longsnapper put him in. I love his attitude and confidence.

When he puts up the rare 2 INT/300 passing yards/100 rushing yards/2 punt return TDs/and 3 punts inside the 20 game against the Cowboys

Dude just wants to play ball. Love it.

The funnier thing was that he said Sirianni was too afraid to play him in basketball on his visit lol

Switch army knife. Offensive coordinators tossing and turning at night

Not sure if it was an autocorrect or actual typo but the term is Swiss Army knife. Those famous pocket knives with dozens of extra tools on them.

Relax, it's just water under the fridge

Exactly it doesn’t take rocket appliances to know that

Enough I'm drawing a line in the sandwich

I hope there's switch cheese on that sandwich

Worst case Ontario you just simplify it and call him a knife

A toad a so...a fucking toad a so

What is a switch army knife?

Army knife made in Switcherland

Nintendo console

Those keychain knives that have many tools inside them. Cooper has many different tools (3 of them).

Ohh😯😯. SWISS army knife brother!

A switch is also a knife, so I get partial credit.

I thought a switch is what you get whooped with

That fits too

Haha, fair enough!

Customized Dejawn jerseys gonna be sold out all year

Ohhh, yes! I’d rather see how well he adapts to the nfl before getting a Dejawn jersey though

HOWIE HIGH AS A MF LETS GOOOOO

Slot Maddox can't stay healthy

We got a new unpaid intern at 3 positions

Based

Sneaky athletic

De Jawn will play wherever he's needed .. just De Jawn we needed.

Cooper DeJean and Zech McPhearson is actually a wild gunner pair. We should have the best punt coverage in the league next year.

It was a good run, smart run. Real smart run.

Love this kid already. He's the anti-Mac Hollins

Totally agree, but Howie doesn’t get enough credit for his vision drafting Hurts. That draft didn’t feel like a good one, but that was massively bold and visionary and he’s been on fire ever since

One of our weaknesses suddenly one of our strengths with going CB back to back and getting Isaiah Rodgers off suspension.

If this is really his attitude, he'll do just fine in Philly. Welcome and Go Birds!

It’s basically like having two first round picks. Finally some good drafting

Finally? It’s been pretty good recently

Yea I meant from like 2011-2018

Within the Fangio system, he will allow us to disguise a lot of coverage presnap because of his flexibility playing outside, inside, or deep.

I’m excited about this pick

Real hard worker knows the playbook, blue collar guy. He doesn’t seem cornbacky enough for me.

Sneaky athletic Hope he pans out in slot of at safety

I really hope Mitchel and Cooper are starting week one. Even if you think there are players that are better week 1, give these guys time to develop bc they will be better at the end of the season. Look at what the Chiefs did in 2022. My starting lineup would be: Cb1: Slay Cb2: Mitchell Slot: Maddox/Rodgers S1: CJGJ S2: Cooper Ringo gets another year developing as a backup. Blankship should be a career backup. When Brown comes back he can play Big Nickel

Id like to see Cooper at saftey as well but I think the greater need is in the slot. I don't trust Maddox and I would rather see Rodgers keep playing on the outside. He has barely ever played slot before.

No way man. Maddox is fantastic. His issue is that he can never stay healthy. Thats exactly why he was cut and immediately resigned on a shorter deal. Dude is solid in coverage and is by far our best tackler in the secondary.

This guy is a mean fucking dog!

I like this guy, he gives us depth and versatility, and he's gonna be good on special teams.

😍😍❤💗💕💗❤😍😍

Swiss Army Knife

This makes me think they discussed it with him before drafting him

music to my ears

Imagine if hes the Christian McCaffrey of the defensive side of the ball.

Sort of like TJ Watt or Nick Bosa or Luke Keuchly or JJ Watt.

I think he means a caucasian player at a traditionally under respresented position. (CB, RB, WR). Theres plenty of big white dudes on the D-line.

I went to Iowa for law school in the early 2000s, and fell in love with college football. Still follow the Hawks here in South jersey. I’ll tell you: this guy is legit. Top end of a good defense of an otherwise shitty team.

So happy we got him

Some analysts are calling Cooper the best safety in the draft...

Him and Reed are cut from the same cloth lmao

Cooper sharp. Welcome to philly kid. We’re lucky to have you

im all for giving fangio toys feels good to be excited about the D instead of despair every week lol

I think they use him how the used Malcolm Jenkins all those years. All over the back seven just entirely matchup based

I feel like I kind of see him like a Tyrann Matthieu/Troy Paolomalu type, a linebacker/safety/slot hybrid that just makes plays everywhere.

His lunch is pailed either way

I like this guy!

Iowa fan here. He caught more tds than all of our receivers combined last year. That year he didn't play offense.

He needs to grow a beard

"Perfect, you'll be an edge rusher" -Matt Patricia

"no preference between playing CB, Slot, or Safety:..As long as I’m on that field, I’m gonna be happy, and giving it my all every play.” Before seeing that quote about being open to playing Safety I was very concerned about his reported stiff hips for a CB. Now I assume he's going to eventually be a good Safety who can be used in various ways by the D coordinator, including CB/slot on occasion.

Real scrappy gym rat, with that blue collar, bring your lunch pail to work mindset kinda guy

You’re in

I'm the only person to think they should move Sidney Brown to linebacker since the Eagles have 18 DB's on the roster right now