Jaden Hicks enters his third season with something the Chiefs have been waiting to see in full: real confidence.
That matters because Kansas City didn’t draft Hicks expecting a slow burn. The Chiefs grabbed him in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft after he slid into the third day, and the pick was widely praised as a steal.
Two years later, though, the production hasn’t matched the buzz. Hicks has spent stretches in defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s doghouse, and even with another season on the horizon, there’s still a fair question hanging over whether he’ll ever fully become the player Kansas City envisioned.
The early signs this summer have been better. Through the Chiefs’ first two preseason games - against the L.A Rams and at Tampa Bay - Hicks has flashed in short bursts, and that’s been enough to notice. Preseason reps are limited by nature, but he has looked far more willing to trust what he sees and act on it.
Hicks says the difference starts with feeling more settled in Spagnuolo’s system after two years in it.
"Yeah, [I'm] just getting comfortable with who I'm playing with, all the guys. Definitely going into year three, it's much better," he said during a post-practice press conference on Wednesday.
He also acknowledged that his confidence hasn’t always stayed steady. Hicks said mistakes sometimes knocked him off track mentally, and that he had to learn how to keep himself from spiraling.
"I would say maybe last year I let my confidence dip down, not trusting myself, but in this game, you're going to have ups and downs, and I feel like the biggest part is just to keep your confidence, keep under control," said Hicks. "Learning that and realizing what it has to take and what you have to do to make sure you stay there. I feel like that helped a lot.
"I felt like I was doing the right thing, but sometimes it wasn't. Sometimes the coaches would get on you and stuff like that, which they should, and just some of that confidence might have dipped."
Hicks has been available every game since entering the league, but the climb has been slower than expected. The path wasn’t clear early on with Justin Reid, Bryan Cook, and Chamarri Conner in the mix, but even after Reid left, Hicks didn’t get the bigger workload many expected.
His playing time moved from 31 percent to 43 percent, and the Chiefs even benched him in earlier games. In 2025, there were four contests in which he logged 11 snaps or fewer.
The mistakes bothered Spagnuolo, who was direct about it last December.
"There have been flashes of good football played there. I’ve brought him in a couple of times, and he’s made some mistakes that I wouldn’t have thought he would have made in his second season.
Hicks says those conversations have mattered.
"He's a guru at this, and he's helping me understand what offenses like to do, what to look for from a defensive perspective. He's given me so many good nuggets that I can look for in the game, and I feel like that's improved my gameplay as well."
Kansas City has made some changes around him, swapping out veteran free agent Alohi Gilman, who signed a three-year deal in March, with Cook, who left for Cincinnati. Beyond that, the Chiefs are leaning mostly on the same group they had last season. Conner will move to safety full-time after the team brought in multiple competitors for nickel corner.
If Hicks can settle in and play with more confidence, that could give the Chiefs’ secondary a different gear. The physical tools have never been the issue. Now the focus is on whether the mental side finally catches up.
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