Kansas City Chiefs S Bryan Cook seemingly avoided a season-ending injury in the Week 13 game against the Green Bay Packers.
Instead, Cook suffered an ankle sprain, which may allow him to return for the 2023 NFL postseason. Still, the Chiefs are expecting him to miss some time with the injury, and he could even be placed on injured reserve as early as Saturday.
Only three players on defense have more snaps than Cook has this season. The second-year safety has emerged as a playmaker and leader on the back end, and his presence will be sorely missed according to defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
"We'll miss Bryan (Cook)," Spagnuolo said. "I think he did a lot of good. A couple of plays that stick out for me with Bryan, we've talked about this before, that play in the Jets game where he -- he's made some open-field tackles that were important. We need the guys that go in there for him to do the same thing."
Who will be called upon to replace Cook while he recovers from his ankle injury?
Mike Edwards is the next man up
Steve Spagnuolo has someone in mind to replace Cook in the interim. That someone is Mike Edwards, who was signed in free agency this offseason after spending the past four seasons in Tampa Bay.
“I think we’re really fortunate to have Mike Edwards because Michael will be the guy who will fill in there for Bryan (Cook),” Spagnuolo said. “And Mike’s a cerebral guy who has picked up the defense really well when he's in there. You guys see, he’s been rotated in there a little bit more. And that’s a compliment to him. So, hopefully, we don’t skip a beat from the standpoint of how we function with the chemistry, and we got kind of trust in Mike to do that.”
Edwards has the reputation of being a ball-hawk, but will he be able to bring the same level of intensity and open-field tackling ability as Cook? According to PFF, he's only had 81 snaps in run defense this season compared to Cook's 215. The difference in run defense grade is palpable.
Other options available to the Chiefs
Chiefs rookie DB Chamarri Conner is the only other player on the 53-man roster with experience playing the safety position this season. He's someone who has excelled on special teams and could earn some more opportunities on defense moving forward, especially if there is another injury.
On the practice squad, the Chiefs have veteran safety Deon Bush. It was just a season ago that Bush played the second-most special teams snaps of any player in Kansas City (317). If Conner begins to play an increased role on defense, look for Dave Toub to push for Bush to be a standard elevation for the next several weeks.
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