Bryan Cook (born September 7, 1999) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The t ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). He played college football at

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also prob ...

before transferring to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

Early life and high school

Cook grew up in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

and attended Mount Healthy High School in Mount Healthy, Ohio. As a senior, he was named first-team All-

Southwest Ohio Conference This is a list of high school athletic conferences in the Southwest Region of Ohio, as defined by the OHSAA. Because the names of localities and their corresponding high schools do not always match and because there is often a possibility of ambigu ...

after recording 35 tackles, three interceptions, and a fumble recovery in nine games on defense and catching four passes for 110 yards and three touchdowns on offense. Cook was lightly recruited and committed to play college football at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

, which was his only scholarship offer.

College career

Cook began his collegiate career playing for the

Howard Bison The Howard Bison and Lady Bison are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Howard University, located in Washington, D.C. The Bison compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s and Division I Foo ...

. He played in 21 games at cornerback over two seasons for Howard and had 93 tackles, five tackles for a loss, two forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries, with 17 passes defended and five interceptions, one of which he returned for a 41-yard touchdown. After his sophomore season, Cook entered the NCAA transfer portal and transferred to continue his collegiate career at

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

. Cook sat out the regular season of his first year with the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. Though they will move to the Big 12 Conference (XII) the teams are currently a part of the American Athletic Conference (The American), which from 1979 ...

per NCAA transfer rules. During his

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

year he was moved from cornerback to safety. Cook played in the

2020 Birmingham Bowl The 2020 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2020, with kickoff at 3:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. local CST) on ESPN. It was the 14th edition of the Birmingham Bowl, and was one of the 2019–20 bowl games ...

following the end of the regular season. He had 26 tackles with two passes broken up in his first full season at Cincinnati. As a senior, Cook 96 tackles, five tackles for loss, and one sack with 9 passes defended and two interceptions and was named first-team All-

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

Professional career

Cook was drafted by the

in the second round, 62nd overall, of the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL Draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The first round was held on Thursday, April 28, and w ...

. In the AFC Championship, Cook deflected a pass to teammate Joshua Williams with score tied at 20. It helped the Chiefs defeat the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

23-20 to reach Super Bowl LVII. In the Super Bowl, Cook had one tackle in the Chiefs 38-35 win over where the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

References

External links

Kansas City Chiefs bioHoward Bison bioCincinnati Bearcats bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Bryan Living people Cincinnati Bearcats football players Howard Bison football players Players of American football from Cincinnati American football safeties Kansas City Chiefs players 1999 births