New Eagle Cooper DeJean says he can beat fellow Hawkeye Caitlin Clark one-on-one. Clark doesn’t agree.

New Eagle Cooper DeJean made waves for implying he could beat fellow former Iowa Hawkeye and women’s basketball phenomenon Caitlin Clark one-on-one.

“If she did beat me, it’d be close, probably by one or two,” DeJean said in an Eagles social media video when asked how many points Clark would beat him by in one-on-one. “If she did.”

But what many didn’t know is that DeJean is a former basketball player himself. He’s got a few mixtapes of him dunking, which he said he can still do, and originally hoped to play college basketball.

“I can jump a little bit. ... I’ve got a little bit of a jump shot, too,” DeJean told Kay Adams on Wednesday on Up and Adams. “... I played basketball. Coming into high school, I wanted to play basketball in college, but it didn’t work out. I stuck with football. Football is probably the better option for me.”

Despite what some may have thought, DeJean said he meant no disrespect to Clark. But she heard the claims, and sent him a text back.

“Caitlin’s a special player,” DeJean said on the show. “She’s done so much for women’s basketball and the University of Iowa and in general. So I have nothing but respect for her. ... After, she texted me and said that she doesn’t think that I could beat her. I let her say that but, yeah, I think it’d be fun if we got to play each other.”

But don’t expect a matchup too soon. With DeJean preparing for his first NFL season with the Eagles and Clark in the midst of the preseason ahead of her first WNBA season with the Indiana Fever, they have busy schedules.

“She’s pretty busy right now, so I don’t know if we’ll get to do that,” DeJean said.