Kyle Cook (born July 25, 1983) is a former

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 ...

center in 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 was a member of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

and

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 ...

. Cook played college football at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

Early life

Kyle Cook is the son of Thomas and Nancy Cook; he has a sister, Sarah. Cook played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

at Dakota High School in Macomb, Michigan. He was a PrepStar All-American, ranked among the nation's top 60 offensive linemen by TheInsiders.com (No. 54) and named to SuperPrep's All-Midwest Team after being rated among the region's top 60 prospects (No. 55). He was listed among the state's top seniors by the ''

Lansing State Journal The ''Lansing State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Lansing, Michigan, owned by Gannett. Overview The ''Lansing State Journal'' is the sole daily newspaper published in Greater Lansing. The newspaper had an average Monday through F ...

'' (No. 14), ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival '' Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Febru ...

'' (No. 20) and ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' (No. 23) and named to the ''Detroit Free Press'' Dream Team and ''The Detroit News'' Class A All-State Team. Cook was selected to ''The Detroit News'' All-Metro Team and earned All-Metro East recognition from both ''The Detroit News'' and ''Detroit Free Press''. He was a three-year starter for coach Mike Giannone at Dakota. Cook also lettered in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and track.

College career

Cook played from 2003–06, following a redshirt year in 2002. He started 11 games as a junior for a Spartans club that set a school record for passing yards (295.5 yards per game). As a senior, he was named second-team All-

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conferen ...

, leading the team in pancake blocks (48) for the second straight year. He closed out his Michigan State career with 35 consecutive starts, and played in the all-star

Hula Bowl The Hula Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game held annually, usually in January. From inception through the 2021 playing, it was held in Hawaii; since the 2022 edition, it has been played in Orlando, Florida. The game was first st ...

following the 2006 season He majored in construction management at Michigan State. He was a member of the

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national socia ...

fraternity.

Professional career

Undrafted out of college, Cook signed with the

as free agent on May 4, 2007. He was waived by the Vikings on September 1, 2007, and four days later was signed to the

practice squad. He was added to the Bengals roster on December 31, 2007. In 2008, he saw his first NFL action, playing in Games 2-6 on special teams, but was placed on Reserve/Injured list Oct. 17 due to a dislocated toe suffered in a collision during pregame warmups Oct. 5 against the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

. In 2009, he earned the starting position in preseason, and was praised by coaches as the “glue” of a revamped unit as the Bengals captured the

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL ...

title. He helped the Bengals finish ninth in NFL rushing (128.5 yards per game), including a team record of eight games of 100 or more yards by individual backs. He aided in a 141-yard rushing game by Cedric Benson on September 20 at Green Bay. He helped lead fourth-quarter drives of 85 and 71 yards during a comeback win September 27 vs. the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

. On October 11 at Baltimore, Cook and the rest of the offensive line helped Benson become the first player in 40 games to rush for 100 yards against the Ravens, and on October 25 Benson rushed for a career-high 189 yards vs. the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

while aiding a sack-free performance up front. In 2010, he contributed to the Bengals ranking second in the AFC and sixth in the NFL in fewest sacks allowed per passing play. The offensive line allowed no sacks for 100 straight passing plays to close the season, including the last three full games. Cook aided in an offensive output of 469 total yards October 24 at Atlanta (most by the Bengals since Game 2 of 2007). He was released on March 11, 2014. He retired on August 21, 2014.Former Bengals center Kyle Cook retires
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References

External links

Bengals player page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cook, Kyle 1983 births Living people People from Mount Clemens, Michigan Sportspeople from Metro Detroit Players of American football from Michigan American football centers Michigan State Spartans football players Minnesota Vikings players Cincinnati Bengals players