Taken by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round of the 2022 draft at No. 62 overall, safety Bryan Cook was a solid, reliable player for Steve Spagnuolo's defense for the first three years of his career, first in a backup role as a rookie before cracking the starting lineup in his sophomore season.
This past year, however, the Cincinnati alum took things to a completely different level. While Cook failed to record an interception for the first time since his rookie year, he did set new career highs in both total tackles (85) and passes defended (six), also racking up 17 stops and allowing just 21 completions on passes thrown in his direction.
While the 26-year-old certainly isn't the strongest at his position in the pass-rush department, Cook's 80.1 run-defense grade ranked 15th among 98 qualifying safeties, and his 83.2 coverage grade ranked sixth. And from an overall standpoint, his 83.5 mark ranked fourth, trailing only the Jacksonville Jaguars' Antonio Johnson (86.9), the Baltimore Ravens' Kyle Hamilton (85.9), and the Houston Texans' Jalen Pitre (84.4).
Simply put, Cook did exactly what every player aspires to do in a contract year in having the best season of his career, as he's seemingly set himself up for a monster payday, with Spotrac projecting his market value at roughly $14.2 million per season on a new contract. The Chiefs certainly won't be paying that much, given their cap constraints, and one has to wonder if any team will be willing to go that high, especially when taking into consideration how strong the safety class is in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft.
Bryan Cook's free-agency market could be affected by the strong safety class in the 2026 draft
Now, it's obviously not as if Cook won't have any suitors in free agency, as he honestly seems like a great fit for several teams, a list that includes the Chicago Bears, his hometown Cincinnati Bengals, the Houston Texans, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, among others.
But again, the upcoming draft is absolutely loaded at safety, with the top target, of course, being Ohio State's Caleb Downs, who may arguably be the best player in the entire class at any position. Downs should easily be a top-10 pick, and one could easily assume that Toledo's Emmanuel McNeil-Warren and Oregon's Dillon Thieneman will join him as first-round selections.
But even beyond those three, there's a plethora of players for teams to choose from, with Kyle Louis (Pitt), Jalon Kilgore (South Carolina), A.J. Haulcy (LSU), Bud Clark (TCU), Zakee Wheatley (Penn State), Genesis Smith (Arizona), and Kamari Ramsey (USC) potentially rounding out the first 10 taken off the board over the first couple of days.
Again, it's not as if Cook won't get a lot of attention over the next few days. But teams might not be willing to pay that $14 million per season to a player who's only had one genuinely great year if they think they can get someone nearly as strong in the draft.
Throw in the fact that there are plenty of other solid safeties set to become unrestricted free agents, and Cook's market could very well be a little softer than some might anticipate. And while not likely, perhaps that opens up the possibility of the Chiefs being able to bring him back.