Philadelphia Eagles make necessary coaching decision and it bodes very well for Cooper DeJean
The Philadelphia Eagles are moving on from a valuable coach in Christian Parker, and their pick to replace him looks very good.
The Philadelphia Eagles knew former pass game coordinator and now Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker would move up the coaching ranks in little time. But now, it’s time for life after Parker.
On Monday, the Eagles took the first step toward moving on by promoting an in-house coach to take over Parker’s role. And their pick bodes very well for first-team All-Pro cornerback Cooper DeJean.
Eagles promote safeties coach
The Eagles will promote safeties coach Joe Kasper to defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator, per insider Jeff McLane. He’s got big shoes to fill.
With Parker helping Eagles DC Vic Fangio, Philly saw its pass defense jump from 31st in the league in 2023 to the league’s best in 2024. This season, the Eagles finished eighth best and had two starting cornerbacks earn All-Pro honors.
Speaking of those cornerbacks, promoting Kasper bodes very well for Cooper DeJean, who recently admitted he wouldn’t be the player he is today without Parker’s coaching. Though the latter will be clearly be missed by the young All-Pro, Kasper is a good bet to build on what Parker helped build. And it starts with the fact that he understand what DeJean provides the Eagles.
Kasper understands DeJean’s unique value
Part of what has made DeJean such a valuable player for the Eagles is the fact that he plays inside in nickel packages. That is no coincidence, as the Eagles are one of the few teams in the NFL that have assigned such a high value to the position many teams still look at as “the third corner.”
In a recent article for The Athletic, Ted Nguyen interviewed Kasper, who described nickel as a “premium” slot on defense.
“The nickel now has become a premium position, a defensive-defining position,” Kasper says in the article. “So having that length and strength is a big advantage, you know, to be able to reroute and disrupt releases of routes. Foot speed to be able to match routes when you’re talking about being able to play true single-high coverage. And then your vision to be able to identify route concepts.”
He added: “Most personnel departments are really way behind the times. They think that they need the outside guy first and the inside guy second, and you know that inside piece is really a mid-round type guy. I totally disagree (with their going that low), the way that the game is going. When you look at it, you look at these offenses that run in-breaking routes off of reductions, and then that is already defeating quarter leverage. And then we talk like, ‘Oh, well, the corner is still the most important one.’ I just think that that’s grossly inaccurate if you’re talking about keeping up with the times.”
For someone like DeJean, having the coach in charge of the defensive coverages think that highly of your role is a big win in the aftermath of Parker’s departure.
On the offensive side of the ball, head coach Nick Sirianni hasn’t been very successful promoting from within. On defense, this sure seems like the right call.
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