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Exciting Whites Hoodie

Exciting Whites Hoodie

Regular price $69.99 USD
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PRINTED ON OUR 16 x 21 JUMBO PRINTS!

Our handmade truly “Vintage Hoodie” features a relaxed fit, heavyweight, a standard hem and is finished in a vintage wash for improved hand-feel and color.

14 oz.

100% cotton fabric

Hand-Designed & Made.

Front and Back Design

Design Over Pouch

Exciting Whites' Reed Blankenship, Cooper DeJean become an Eagles phenomenon

A few days before the NFL draft, Reed Blankenship heard a rumor. It was that his team might select Cooper DeJean. The 25-year-old safety hoped it would turn out to be true. DeJean, a defensive back out of the University of Iowa, was considered one of the most athletic players in his class.

But that wasn’t the only thing Blankenship was looking forward to.

“I’ll be honest,” he said. “I knew that there was a white cornerback that was pretty good. And I was like, ‘Man, it would be cool if he came to the Eagles.’ To have another white guy on the secondary, you know?”

He got his wish. The Eagles took DeJean in the second round, and all of a sudden, Blankenship was no longer their only white defensive back.

The safety likes to poke fun at himself, and is well aware that he is a rarity in today’s NFL. DeJean is even more so. According to USA Today, before DeJean, there hadn’t been a white starting cornerback in the league since Jason Sehorn, who played his last game on Jan. 10, 2004. The Broncos' Riley Moss, also an Iowa product, started 14 games this season after not playing much as a rookie in 2023.

To have one of the game’s top slot cornerbacks be a soft-spoken white kid from Odebolt, Iowa — population: 985 — was not something anyone anticipated. But to Blankenship, the singularity of it all was part of the fun. So, he tried to get DeJean to lean into it.

This did not happen overnight. Blankenship said when DeJean showed up for OTAs in the spring, he didn’t say a word. Blankenship understood where the rookie was coming from. He was in a similar position in 2022, and credited players like Darius Slay and Marcus Epps with pulling him out of his shell.

He decided to do the same for DeJean.

“I was just like, you know what? I’m going to keep going,” Blankenship said. “I’d say, ‘What’s up, what’s up, what’s up, what’s up?’ Every day just telling him — without telling him — that I’m here if he needs anything.

“Finally, he started joking with me.”

They began to hang out away from the field. They’d go golfing together, and Blankenship introduced DeJean to a few restaurants in town (especially Tacconelli’s, where he now goes once a week). A few months ago, they went to the King of Prussia Mall to buy DeJean a pair of cowboy boots.

Blankenship — a native of Athens, Ala. — was there to supervise.

“I was like, ‘Those boots are cool,’” Blankenship said. “‘You should get those.’”

The two players started to coordinate their arrivals at the Eagles’ facility — making sure that they walked in at precisely the same time. They would eat every pregame meal together, and leave for the stadium together before games.WayfairEverly Quinn Leipzig Leather High Back Ergonomic Executive Chair 47.0 H X 25.0 W X 30.0 D In Brownupholstered In Camel | Wayfair

Fans quickly took note. Memes began to circulate, with one rising above the rest: A photo of a white wine selection with a sign above it that read “Exciting Whites.” It’s a nickname that has taken on new life throughout this Eagles playoff run.

“I had been hearing those memes since I got here,” Blankenship said. “But once he got here, and they put us together, it really took off.”

At the beginning of the regular season, DeJean was in a mall in downtown Philadelphia when two college kids approached him. They told him that they’d made ‘90s-style “Exciting Whites” T-shirts. DeJean told them to send the shirts to the Eagles facility.

He and Blankenship surveyed the locker room.

“I didn’t really know what to think about it,” Blankenship said. “So, I asked Slay, some of my teammates, coaches, ‘Do y’all think this is cool?’ And they all said, ‘Yeah, that’s cool!’ I was like, ‘All right.’”

They debuted the shirts before their Nov. 14 game against the Commanders. It was an instant hit.

“The guys that gave me the T-shirts said their website blew up,” DeJean said. “They had a whole bunch of orders coming in. Everybody loved it.”

The nickname has stuck. The NFL’s social media accounts have embraced it. DeJean and Blankenship say that they get called “Exciting Whites” on a regular basis. Whenever they’re out in public together, and are asked to sign an autograph, it usually comes with an addendum.

“I’ve had to sign ‘Exciting Whites’ on both of our pictures before,” Blankenship said. “Because sometimes he won’t do it. So, I’ll have to do it. Somebody has to do it.”

All jokes aside, DeJean is grateful that Blankenship was so persistent back in the spring. He’ll turn 22 on Super Bowl Sunday and is living 1,205 miles away from Odebolt. He said he felt lonely at first, because he didn’t have many friends in Philadelphia.

But in Blankenship, he has found an “older brother” who has made him feel comfortable amid a high-stakes playoff run.

“It was a tough transition,” DeJean said. “Not knowing anybody, and being from Iowa and going to [the University of Iowa], and not living outside the state. First time living in a big city. So, it was tough at first. But these guys have helped, and [Blankenship] has definitely helped.

“He was always checking in on me, talking [expletive] to me, too. It always put a smile on my face. Just random stuff like that. It felt like we were best friends already when I first got here. He helped me open up.”

With a Super Bowl win on Sunday, the “Exciting Whites” would almost certainly be woven into franchise lore.

But regardless of the outcome, Blankenship and DeJean will keep leaning into the unusual spot they are in.

Blankenship already has his eye on their next project.

“I’m thinking about starting a little podcast together,” he said, with a grin.

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