Cincinnati Bengals
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The Bengals are a potential fit for Chiefs safety Bryan Cook
The Cincinnati Bengals are about to begin a crucial offseason and with free agency less than a week away, the team must figure out which players to bring in to improve their defense. Last season, their defense finished as the third-worst scoring defense in the NFL.
With the Bengalslikely losing All-Pro pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, the team will have the option to reallocate their resources on defense. Hendrickson will likely garner a large contract, and while the Bengals opted not to pay him, the team can now afford to pay several defensive players what they would have given Hendrickson.
As a result, the Bengals have been getting linked to many defensive players across the league. And now, Cincinnati has been seen as a potential team to sign one of their AFC rival’s key defensive starters.
Cincinnati Bengals Seen as a Possibility for Bryan Cook
The Los Angeles Rams recently announced that they hadre-signed safety Kam Curl to a three-year, $36 million contract. NFL salary cap expert Andre Perrotta shared that he believed that deal could result in the Bengals signing Kansas City Chiefs free agent safety Bryan Cook.
Perrotta posted on X, “I can very well see CIN doing a deal with S Bryan Cook with a very similar contract structure to the Waynes’ deal:
3yrs/$42M with $20M yr-1 Cash (via $15M signing bonus + $5M base) and $30M cash through 2 years. With Curl agreeing to 3/$36M this morning, that’s right in the range where a lot of FA Safeties will land ($12-$14M), and the Waynes structure serves as a good model.
Cook is a Cincinnati native, too. Ascending player and 2x Super Bowl winner. The fit is just too natural for both sides.”
Sports Illustrated’s James Rapien reacted to the post and wrote about the potential idea of Cincinnati signing Cook. He said, “Cook would be a great addition to a Bengals’ secondary that desperately needs stability at safety. They’ve struggled in that area over the past few seasons.
He’s coming off of his most productive NFL season and is only 27 years old. Cook attended Mt. Healthy High School in Cincinnati, before becoming a Bearcat and helping the University of Cincinnati make the College Football Playoff in 2021.”
Bryan Cook Player Profile
Cook would be a massive addition to the Bengals’ defense. He finished the 2025 season as thefourth-highest ranked safety according to Pro Football Focus.The Athletic ranked him as the 37th-best free agent in this year’s class.
The Athletic’s Daniel Popper wrote, “Cook is a two-way safety who can play in the deep part of the field and closer to the line of scrimmage. He has a complete skill set: consistent eyes in zone, a deep-field presence, run-and-hit ability in the alley, physicality and a quick trigger on screens and swings. Cook will deliver the boom on tight-window throws over the middle. Though he played mostly as a deep-field safety in coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s Chiefs defense, he has the potential to do more, particularly as a blitzer.”
Rapien also called the deal a “no-brainer” for the Bengals. He added, “We’ll see if the Bengals get it done, but Cook to the Bengals makes a ton of sense.”