The Bengals made a splash this offseason when they brought in Bryan Cook, a Cincinnati native and two-time Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs. They paid him like a major piece, too, handing him a three-year, $40.25 million deal. The real question now is whether that investment pays off in the role Cincinnati has in mind for him.
One recent forecast pegged Cook as a training camp bust, but that label leans on a shaky premise. Moe Moton of Bleacher Report tried to identify a camp bust for every NFL team, and his case against Cook centered on the idea that the Bengals overpaid for a safety whose coverage production hasn’t matched the contract.
“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.”
There’s some truth in the concern, but the broader picture matters. Cook is better suited to working closer to the line of scrimmage than living as a pure deep safety, and he’s not the same kind of coverage liability that Geno Stone was after leaving. His pass defense has actually trended in the right direction.
In 2024, Cook posted an 87.8 passer rating allowed with two touchdowns surrendered and two interceptions, according to PFF. His passer rating allowed climbed back to 111.3 this past year, but his yards allowed per reception have steadily improved over three seasons: 18.3, 13.0 and 8.7. He also logged 11 pass breakups over the last two seasons after managing just four in his first two.
That’s why the fit matters so much. Cook shouldn’t be asked to play free safety as often in Cincinnati, and if the Bengals use him correctly, that probably won’t be the plan.
Joe Goodberry pointed out that Jordan Battle picked off four passes on 23 targets as a free safety last season while allowing only a 58.0 passer rating. That lines up with the idea that Battle can handle more of the deep work, especially since he was held back from that spot at times last year because Stone couldn’t do enough in the box.
If that setup holds, Cook can be deployed where he’s most valuable. He’s missed just 10 of his last 138 tackle attempts, which makes him a natural candidate to be used as a box safety.
So the idea isn’t that Cook has to become the next Jessie Bates in Cincinnati. He doesn’t need to be that player. The Bengals didn’t sign him for that exact job, and his value can come in other ways, including the kind of leadership that comes with having already won the Lombardi Trophy twice.
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Former Bengals QB Jake Browning Already Facing An Unexpected Threat
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The early challenge, though, has come from an undrafted rookie who has turned heads during preseason work and made the depth chart look a little less settled than it seemed at first. Browning still has the edge that comes with having been around the league longer, but the final roster picture is not locked in, and how the rest of camp unfolds could determine whether that experience is enough. [Read more 🡒]