The Cincinnati Bengals have made plenty of waves this offseason, including a long-awaited major move to address their safety position. Two-time Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl champ Bryan Cook, a Cincinnati native, is now rocking the Bengals stripes.
But does Cook have the goods to live up to his three-year, $40.25 million free agent contract? That largely depends on how Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden deploys him.
Golden should have the wherewithal to play to Cook's strengths. A new list of predicted training camp busts features none other than Cook, yet that forecast is based on a bit of a logic stretch if we're being honest.
Bengals safety Bryan Cook projected as a training camp bust, but under probable false pretense
Moe Moton of Bleacher Report undertook the ambitious task of naming a camp bust candidate for all 32 teams. You can only be so knowledgeable in instances like these. Take it from someone who knows firsthand!
Taking into account that sort of generous, grading-on-a-curve scale, though, Moton's analysis misses the mark a little bit, despite some valid, red-flag data points about Cook's track record:
"Bryan Cook made our list of most overpaid players at each position because his new deal doesn't match his recent production. The fourth-year veteran's contract ranks fifth among safeties in cash this year. In terms of cash, Cook will bank more money than some of the league's top or ascending ball-hawking safeties such as Jessie Bates III, Xavier McKinney and Coby Bryant. Kudos to his agent for closing the deal, but the Cincinnati Bengals overpaid for him. In four seasons, Cook has recorded three interceptions and 15 pass breakups, and he's allowed passer ratings above 128 in coverage in three campaigns. The 26-year-old isn't going to move the needle on pass defense, which is what teams typically want out of high-paid safeties."
Let's start with the criticism of Cook's past coverage. While it's fair to say that his skill set is better suited closer to the line of scrimmage, the notion that Cook is a liability in the vein of someone like departed free agent Geno Stone is simply inaccurate.
Cook took a big step forward defending the pass in 2024, yielding only an 87.8 passer rating with two TDs allowed against two interceptions, per PFF.
Although his passer rating allowed spiked back up to 111.3 this last year, Cook's three-season trend of yards allowed per reception have gone as follows: 18.3, 13.0, 8.7. He's also had 11 pass breakups in a two-year span after just four total in his first two seasons.
So not only is Cook's coverage trajectory improving. He won't be asked to play free safety as often in Cincy. Or at least he shouldn't be.
Hat tip to Joe Goodberry for this nugget: Jordan Battle made four interceptions on 23 targets as a free safety last season whilst allowing only a 58.0 passer rating.
That whole thesis of Golden having the smarts to play to Cook's strengths? Yeah.
Battle was unable to play at deep safety as often as he would've liked last year due to Stone's sheer inability to be in the box and make tackles. It stands to reason that Battle will line up deep more often, and that Cook, who's missed just 10 of his last one hundred and thirty-eight tackle attempts, will be unleashed as a dominant box safety.
So no, Bryan Cook won't be the next Jessie Bates in Cincinnati. He doesn't have to be. That's not his skill set wheelhouse. Cook can prove he's worth the big money in other ways, including intangibles as someone who's twice lifted the Lombardi Trophy.
Add us as a preferred source on Google