In the days ahead of Super Bowl LIX, if there was a Philadelphia Eagles player predicted to score on his birthday, it was most certainly Saquon Barkley.
Instead, it was rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean who celebrated his 22nd trip around the sun with a pick-six and a Super Bowl ring.
DeJean’s 38-yard interception for a touchdown was a massive turning point in the Eagles’ 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, and likewise put the corner in the history books as the first -- and only -- player in Super Bowl chronicle to score on his birthday.
“It's crazy, crazy,” DeJean said Tuesday on The Rich Eisen Show. “Still doesn't feel real to me that that happened. I'm just incredibly grateful to be a part of this group and this defense and what we've been able to accomplish all year. I couldn't have done it without those guys up front and all of us in the back end just working together like we have all year to make that play possible."
Barkley turned 28 on Super Bowl Sunday, and after a simply sensational 2024 regular season in which he eclipsed 2,000 yards rushing, it seemed like a mere formality that he’d celebrate with a TD. Barkley did make some history, establishing a new single-season rushing record -- including playoffs, but was held out of the end zone and to 57 yards on 25 carries as the Chiefs game-planned to stop him.
It was DeJean who found the end zone midway through the second quarter for a score that opened up a 17-0 Philadelphia lead. In retrospect, it was the tally that truly kicked off a stunning blowout for the Eagles, as they’d dominated from the start of the game but were still clinging to just a 10-0 lead.
That’s when DeJean read Patrick Mahomes perfectly, snatched his first career interception and took off with six-point intentions.
With Mahomes rolling right and firing off a terrible ball, DeJean slipped underneath, hauled in the pigskin and switched the field. He was untouched until he hit the far sideline, juked inside past one Chiefs offensive lineman and then ran through the arm-tackle offering of another.
"We were playing zone,” DeJean said. “I just dropped into coverage, was dropping into my zone. Zack Baun ran through with the guy to the flat. It allowed me to fall back inside and pick off the crosser that was coming across from the opposite side. If I didn't pick it, I think [Quinyon Mitchell] might have picked it off, too, but it just fell right into my lap. [I] had to catch it. I've dropped a couple this season, so luckily I caught that one and found the quickest path I could to the end zone."
Thereafter, DeJean high-stepped a bit before running around the end zone searching for teammates to celebrate the surreal moment.
“I was running around like I was a little kid,” said DeJean, who also had three tackles in the game. “I didn’t have any celebrations planned.”
There was clearly a celebration planned for after the game, as DeJean scarfed down some birthday cake amid the Super Bowl revelry.
It was an unbelievable capper to an astounding debut season for DeJean, who finished fourth in AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. The second-round selection garnered an 86.3 overall PFF grade -- tops among cornerbacks, including AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II.
DeJean’s success, along with that of Mitchell, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith and others boasted of a ballyhooed youth movement in Philly that saw burgeoning Eagles stars mesh beautifully well with veteran talent such as Darius Slay, Zack Baun and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
Perhaps symbolically, it was Carter who got the defense going before the game.
"It's usually [Brandon Graham],” DeJean said. “B.G. said a couple words, but Jalen Carter actually stepped up and he said a few words prior to going out on the field, just talking about how this is our last opportunity, why not leave it out all on the field, telling us that he's giving us everything he's got and he expects us to do the same. I think we went out and did that on Sunday night."
Indeed, the Eagles and DeJean left a masterpiece of a Super Bowl performance on the Caesars Superdome field Sunday night.
DeJean’s performance, particularly his historic INT TD, proved to be a catalyst as he was able to blow out the candles and the Chiefs.