In late December former NFL running back Rashard Mendenhall fired out a hot take suggesting the NFL replace the Pro Bowl with an All-Black vs. All-White bowl, and the internet went wild.
Lines were drawn after Mendenhall’s tweet, squads were formed and pretty quickly we had a picture of two pretty formidable, albeit segregated, teams. There was only one problem for the white team: who the heck was gonna play corner? Enter Cooper DeJean …
Stud Iowa Hawkeyes cornerback Cooper DeJean just declared for the NFL draft, according to ESPN, priming him to become the first white starting cornerback in the NFL since 2003.
Iowa CB Cooper DeJean is headed to the NFL.
One of the absolute best athletes in the entire class and a game-changing return man on top of being a gifted cover corner. https://t.co/xvcLd1UT20
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 4, 2024
A wide range of analysts project DeJean to be a first round pick. If selected, he’ll almost definitely start games at corner, making him the first white guy to do so since Jason Sehorn, who retired in 2003. (RELATED: Rising Star Football Recruit Noah Knigga Is 100% Going To Get An Announcer Canceled Once He Gets To College)
There are some arguments to be made that Troy Apke or Ashtyn Davis can be called a corner because they occasionally slide in to the slot or whatever. Fine. Even if I give you that, there hasn’t been a starting cornerback of the Caucasian variety in 21 years.
DeJean isn’t just a great corner either. He’s one hell of a kick returner.
With DeJean on team white, we finally have an athletic corner option to compete with team black’s speed at wide out. Now we only need three more!