Following safety Deke Cooper’s NFL career is sort of like following the movie character Forrest Gump. While Forrest traveled the world but kept finding his way back to Greenbow, AL, Cooper keeps coming back to Charlotte, NC, and the Carolina Panthers.
Cooper was a high school football star in Evansville, IN. He made the natural progression northward to play collegiately at Notre Dame. He wasn’t drafted, but got his first chance to play in the NFL as a rookie free agent with the Arizona Cardinals,…who cut him but resigned him and allocated him to NFL Europe. The Cardinals gave him another shot at their roster, but they cut him and then Cleveland did the same after signing him to their practice squad.
The Panthers signed him in 2002 and assigned him once more to NFL Europe, where he was the League’s Defensive MVP. He played sparingly in 10 games for Carolina that season, but signed as a free agent with Jacksonville, where defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio had taken over as head coach. He played three seasons for Del Rio, starting 22 games and amassing 189 tackles, one sack, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
Last season he signed with Miami but was released before the start of the regular season. He was picked up by San Francisco, but only saw limited action in one game there.
When he signed with the Panthers a second time on March 26 this year, he felt like peas and carrots with his old/new teammates.
“It was like a second homecoming,” said Cooper, who is vying for a starting safety job this time around. “When I walked in, it was pretty much the same core group of guys. A few guys are gone, but it’s the same team for the most part. Everybody welcomed me back. It feels really good coming into a defense I have already played in, instead of trying to pick up the schemes and all of that.
“The game’s a lot slower this time around. The last time I was here I was a rookie and things were moving really fast. But now that I’ve been in this defense for about five years (the game) is slowing down a lot.”
Instead of seeking love from Jenny, Cooper is seeking chemistry with fellow safeties Chris Harris and Nate Salley, who are also vying for a starting role following stalwart Mike Minter’s departure.
“Things are going well,” said Cooper. “The guys in the secondary are gelling a little bit. This is my fifth year in this defense, so it comes pretty natural to me. I know all the checks. I get the chance to read the offense a little more instead of being in that situation where you’re trying to learn the defense first.”
When Cooper arrived, he had Minter around to help him get up to speed on things. Now he is in that same role with Harris, who was acquired just days before Minter’s retirement.
“Chris is picking up the defense pretty quickly,” said Cooper. “Quicker than I thought he would. But we’re still learning to play together. We talk before each play. I might say something that’s wrong and he’ll say, ‘No, we’re on this side,’ or vice versa. We’re back there helping each other. It’s working out pretty well.”
Learning to play safety can be like learning the shrimping business. The secondary has been burned a couple of times in the preseason for big plays. Cooper says not to worry.
“It’s all stuff that we can fix,” he said. “It’s assignment type things. Nothing where they outschemed us or were more athletic than us or anything. It’s just been missed assignments where we weren’t on the same page. It’s things that we can fix.”
Football, just like life, can be like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get. So the trick is to be ready for it. This time around, Cooper is much more prepared.
