Philadelphia Eagles Cooper DeJean joins the show E412A

0:00 Sports Card Nation. The hobby is the people. Weekly news and interviews. It's your number one source. Sports Card Nation. The hobby is the people. Sports Card Nation. What is up, everybody? A special Monday Sports Card Nation. Shorter than what we would usually have. But we got a special guest on this week's episode. And his team reached out to me to come on. And when a NFL Pro Bowlers group asks to come on, you don't say no. And so we are talking with Philadelphia Eagles corner number 38 on the NFL Top 100, Cooper DeGene. And, uh, we're going to talk some hobby with him, talk some cards. Again, this is a shorter interview, uh, than we typically do. Uh, he was doing sort of a circuit and we were one of the podcasts, uh, selected.

1:12 So very glad to have him on. Uh, we're releasing this in Monday instead of a hobby quick hits, um, and, and, and that. So, uh, we'll go back on our next hobby quick hit schedule in a few weeks, but, uh, You know, when you get to interview an NFL pro bowler and one of the young stars of football, you don't say no. And so we are talking with Cooper DeGene of the Philadelphia Eagles today. Attention Sports Card Nation viewers. What up, kids? It's your boy Scott Hanson from NFL Red Zone. Oh, we're back. Ball is back. The hobby never ends.

1:56 And before you know it, I'm going to be on your screen again, rocking that octobox, knocking the bottom out of the witching hour, and announcing seven hours of Red Zone football. But as you watch Red Zone, just save some time. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, to check out John. and SportsCard Nation. Let's have a great season, people.

2:44 All right, this is a real honor and privilege to talk to my next guest. He is a unanimous college All-American and as a rookie for the Philadelphia Eagles, put a ring on it. That is a Super Bowl ring during his rookie season. He's none other than the number 38, according to NFL Network, overall ranked player according to their top 100 list. Cooper DeGene, welcome to the Sports Card Nation. Appreciate it. Thanks for having me. So I got to confess, I'm a longtime Steeler fan and followed you, especially your last year before the drink, you know, coming out in the draft. And I, you know, loved your style of play. It was a position of need for, for, for the Steelers. And I said, man, he's already got the, almost the uniform on already. It would just be the perfect transition. Should that, that happen?

3:41 Unfortunately for us, Steeler fans, not the case, but, For you, you had an incredible rookie season and arguably maybe the greatest 22nd birthday in the history of 22nd birthdays, right? A pick six off a guy some people might have heard of named Patrick Mahomes in a Super Bowl victory. Just right off the top, just here you are a rookie. You're at the pinnacle of what people play for. years and some never attained. And then you have a game like that and, and when the Superbowl ring, just take me back to, you know, that feeling.

4:24 Yeah, it was, it was crazy. It was a dream come true. Obviously growing up, watching the Superbowl every year, you dream of, you know, making, making a play like that. It's something you, you do in your, your backyard as a little kid. So it was, it was a really cool moment for me. And, moment that'll, that'll stick with me for the rest of my life. No doubt, no doubt. And, uh, uh, so, you know, you mentioned being a kid, uh, as a kid, was card something on your radar? Did you collect? And if so, you know, what, what did you collect back in those days? Yeah, I, uh, I would just try to try to find my favorite players, um, players I, I looked up to and, uh, I had them all in a binder.

5:13 I didn't really know what they meant or anything really about them, but I would collect them and try to find all my favorite players and put them in my binder. I'm sure it's still somewhere back home, but yeah, I was into it a little bit as a kid. Do you remember the first time you saw yourself on a card, and what was that feeling like? Here you are as a kid Collecting, like you said, your favorite athletes and players, and now you're one of them. You're on cardboard and chrome. Talk about the first time you saw that. I don't remember specifically the first time, but it is pretty cool to see myself on a trading card. People spend a lot of money on those things. I've seen some really expensive... cards of mine that I'm on. So it's, that's pretty cool. Um, pretty cool to see. Um, and it's cool to see all the other different types of, of cards that they make. And, um, yeah, I've, I've, uh, pulled a couple of mine, you know, just doing, um, some card rips on, on my own. So, um, that's always cool to just, uh, open up a pack and, and see yourself in there.

6:32 You know, a lot of these products have, you know, as you mentioned, autograph cards and it's, I don't want to say it's an obligation, but, like, you obviously sign cards that will go into products. Talk about, like, balancing, you know, obviously you're training even in the offseason when the season's over and then when the season's going, you're a busy guy. Talk about, like, balancing the time to do that so someone who's a Cooper DeGene fan can maybe pull an autograph card. You're talking about balancing the time to sign the cards? Like, we sign in it. Is it? I know some players have mentioned it can be tedious and others say, hey, I enjoy doing it. I guess where do you fall in there?

7:21 You for sure got to be in the right headspace to be able to sit down and sign that many stickers or cards. But really, you try to do a little bit at a time as much as you can at a time and do it. every other day, every day, whatever it may be. Sometimes you'll have to do, like, a signing for someone, and you'll sit down and do a whole bunch of stickers and cards there that day. I love signing my cards. The stickers are a little bit more of a headache to sign.

8:03 Yeah, you just got to stay on, like, that area. It's a little– Um, but. You know, when, when you're signing the card, you get to, you get to actually look at the card and, um, see what it looks like. But, um, I don't mind it, but you, you for sure got to be in the right, right head space. You got to put on a podcast, a movie, something, um, uh, to keep your mind off of what's, what's right in front of you. Yeah, no doubt. I can, I, I get that, you know, even doing some of the work around here in the studio, I'll have a background program or something on the TV. where I'm, you know, paying somewhat attention to it. So fully, fully get that. Now that you're on all these cards yourself, do you, does your family or friends like collect as many of your cards as they can or yourself even?

8:53 Yeah. I try, I try to keep the ones that, that I find of myself. You know, and there's, there's quite a few, you know, my, my youngest brother, he, he rips cards and he'll find some of mine and, Some of our family friends, you know, they rip cards and they'll send me pictures of them or they'll show me, you know, whenever I'm around. So that's pretty cool that they get excited about it too. I mentioned, you know, for what it's worth on the NFL Network's top 100 list, you're 38. Do the players, like whether it's on your team or just the players in general, is that something like you'll joke with each other? Like, hey, I'm 38, you're 45, maybe you catch me next year.

9:39 Do you pay attention to that? Or, you know, I always wondered about that because I'm watching the show as a fan just to see where guys are slotted and stuff. How about, I always wondered if the players, you guys yourself, are paying attention or not necessarily. I mean, I wouldn't say necessarily. You know, whenever it comes out, you know, the guys will, you know, give you a hard time about it, whatever, poke fun. You know, but after that, after the last couple weeks, it comes out, it kind of goes away, and no one really, you know, pays attention to it.

10:20 I would say going back to the cards, do, do any, like, do any of your teammates are like, is there card collecting going on in your own locker room? Like do, do players collect, even if it's not football, maybe it's Pokemon or, or, you know, TCG, like how, how much collecting is going on, you know, on, on players levels. Yeah. There's a, There's definitely stuff going on in the locker room for sure. I know Zach Bond, he's big into Pokemon. I'll see him bringing in packs for guys or ripping packs on his own in the facility sometimes. So, yeah, there's a couple guys that are pretty passionate. I was never into Pokemon really like that. I'm more into the sports side of it. But he's pretty big into Pokemon, so I see him ripping packs every once in a while.

11:15 All right, this might be the toughest question I'll ask you. You know, obviously this is hypothetical. You don't have to do it. You can collect as many and whoever you want. But if you had to collect one player, you know, and it don't have to be in the NFL or it could be, if you only could collect one athlete, who are you picking? Right now, one athlete? Yep. Any sport. I mean, it could be football. It could be another sport. I would probably go with Victor Wimonyama. Pretty safe pick there. Yeah, you're not going to get any arguments from most there. Young, like yourself, made it to the finals last year and probably will be back and probably will also be wearing a ring or more when his career is all over.

12:11 So I know, you know, we see the box, you know, title behind you. Talk about what this is and what it entails. Yeah. You know, box is a, it's an online, you know, card app that you can go on and rip cards, sports cards, Pokemon cards, whatever you're into. You can go on there and rip as many packs as you want. You can even compete against other people. You know, I'm in, I'm an athlete, so, you know, we like to compete. So see who can pull the best cards, which is fun. You know, they got a bunch of other modes and games on there that you can get into. But it's a really cool app, and I'm excited to try it out.

12:59 Is this coming out soon, or is it already live? The app's coming out soon. Okay. All right. But once it comes out, you'll have to hop on there and rip open some packs. If you like the cards you get, you can get them shipped right to your front door. If you don't, you can sell them and get your money back and open up more packs. You know, I always give the guests on the show, Cooper, like the last word, any social media where people can see what you're doing or, you know, things you're representing, now's your chance to– Share all that info if you want to.

13:40 Yeah, you can check out my own podcast, Exciting Mics. Me and my buddy Reed Blankenship, we got our own podcast, you know, that we talk ball and other things on there too. Hopefully, you know, we'll get a card-ripping segment on there sometime here soon. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And, yeah, check that out. Is it on all major platforms? Yep, at Exciting Mics. Okay. All right, there you have it, right from one of the Exciting Mics themselves. So, Cooper, appreciate you making some time for us. Continue your success, and we'll talk soon.

14:25 Appreciate it. Thank you.