There’s a quote about Kansas City Chiefs safety Jaden Hicks that has stuck with me. Last December, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo made a blunt assessment of Hicks’s performance in his sophomore season with Kansas City.
“I think if you asked Jaden, he’d tell you he’s had a kind of up-and-down season. There’s been flashes of good football played there,” Spagnuolo said. “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.”
Heading into year three, Hicks is on the hot seat to prove he’s learned from those mistakes.
Those comments from Spags were both surprising and revealing—surprising because of how good Hicks looked as a rookie, making it unexpected to hear that he’d taken a step back, and revealing because they offered a reason why we didn’t see Hicks play as much as we might have expected.
A fourth-round pick in 2024, Hicks only started one game as a rookie, but he was a strong rotational piece off the bench in an experienced secondary. He was a good tackler, his coverage skills looked strong, and Hicks had three interceptions to show for it.
It looked like the Chiefs had found a good one in Hicks, so it made sense when they opted not to re-sign Justin Reid—their starting safety for three straight trips to the Super Bowl—to a large contract extension because it felt like Hicks was ready to take over and play at a similar level for less money.
But that’s not how things played out. Hicks’s snap count went up from 31% in 2024 to 43% in 2025, but he only started two additional games, and while his snap count was higher, it was still lower than what I think Chiefs fans would have liked to see.
Spagnuolo’s comments tell us why Hicks might not have seen the field as much as anticipated: mistakes.
It’s practically impossible for anyone outside of the locker room to know what Hicks is being asked to do. We can make educated guesses based on what we see on the field, but only the coaching staff truly knows if Hicks did the job he was supposed to do or if he went to the right spot. What looks like a good snap to us might be a terrible one in the eyes of the coaches.
Now, the question heading into training camp and next season is simple: Has Hicks been able to fix those mistakes?
If the answer is yes, hopefully that means we see Hicks get more playing time and evolve into a starting-caliber player. If the answer is no, well, the Chiefs have already shown that they simply won’t play him.
Hicks won’t just be handed the starting safety role by default, either. He’ll have to prove that he’s up to the task. Chamarri Conner is likely to spend more time at his natural position of safety, and offseason signing Alohi Gilman feels like a player brought in to start over Hicks, not to support him.
Geez, there’s even an outside chance that L'Jarius Sneed could slide to safety and jump ahead of Hicks on the depth chart. If Sneed hasn’t got the juice to be a lockdown corner anymore, maybe safety is a spot where the Chiefs can use his strengths without having to worry as much about whether he can physically still play cornerback.
Hicks has clearly got talent and high upside. Dane Brugler ranked him first among all safeties in the 2024 draft class, after all. But if he can’t give the Chiefs the confidence to actually play him, that upside and ranking count for nothing.
The Chiefs saw something in Hicks when they drafted him, and his potential likely played a big role in Kansas City letting Reid and Bryan Cook, two very capable and more proven players than Hicks himself, walk in free agency. Now the pressure is on for Hicks to prove that confidence placed in him was justified.
Hot seat verdict: Hicks is still a promising and developing player, but when your coordinator calls you out by name, you’d better be able to answer the call. Hicks still has time, but his seat is an oven that has been set to 480°F, and it’s preheating fast.
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