{"id":177567,"date":"2026-04-17T08:55:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=177567"},"modified":"2026-04-17T08:55:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:55:57","slug":"%f0%9f%9a%a8-game-changer-for-kc-chiefs-predicted-to-replace-bryan-cook-with-ultra-athletic-safety-in-nfl-draft-a-bold-move-for-the-future-%f0%9f%91%87-a-new-era-for-kansas-city-the-chiefs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=177567","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea8 GAME-CHANGER FOR KC: Chiefs Predicted to Replace Bryan Cook with Ultra-Athletic Safety in NFL Draft \u2014 A Bold Move for the Future \ud83d\udc47 A New Era for Kansas City: The Chiefs Eyeing a Dynamic Safety to Step In \u2014 Could This Be the Key to Strengthening Their Defense?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263096107-2.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263096107-2.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263096107-2.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2263096107-2.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Chiefs Predicted to Replace Bryan Cook With Ultra-Athletic Safety in NFL Draft\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>ESPN&#8217;s Jeremy Fowler reported defensive back Treydan Stukes will visit the Seattle Seahawks for a pre-draft visit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Kansas City Chiefs said goodbye to most of the top talent in their secondary this offseason, and replacing it will likely be a primary objective in next week\u2019s NFL draft.<\/p>\n<p>Some mocks predict Kansas City to take a cornerback with either the No. 9 or 29 picks in Round 1, though very few have the Chiefs looking at safety on Thursday night, April 23. However, depending on how the opening round plays out, the franchise could look at a rapidly-rising talent to replace the departed Bryan Cook as soon as early in Round 2, where Kansas City picks 40th overall.<\/p>\n<p>Tony Pauline of Essentially Sports on Wednesday, April 15 named the Chiefs as one of the two most likely destinations for Treydan Stukes out of Arizona.<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\">\u201cAfter a terrific senior season, Stukes timed 4.33 seconds (40-yard dash) at the combine and hit 38 inches in the vertical jump,\u201d Pauline wrote. \u201cTeams like him as a Swiss Army knife in the secondary, a defensive back who is interchangeable at safety, nickel and even outside cornerback.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-athlete=\"false\">\u201cDepending on what they do with their initial selections, keep an eye on the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets, both with a pair of choices in Round 1 and early selections to open Day 2,\u201d Pauline continued. \u201cThe Chiefs brought Stukes in for a visit, and the Jets think highly of him at the safety spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 data-athlete=\"false\">Bryan Cook Left Chiefs for Monster Deal From Bengals<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_5811635\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bryan-Cook-4-e1772830175324.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" alt=\"Chiefs Predicted to Replace Bryan Cook With Ultra-Athletic Safety in NFL Draft\" width=\"782\" height=\"441\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5811635\" data-lazy-load=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5811635\">GettyFormer Kansas City Chiefs safety Bryan Cook.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cook left Kansas City for the Cincinnati Bengals during free agency in March after four years with the Chiefs.<\/p>\n<p>The former second-round pick, who will play next season at 27 years old, inked a three-year deal worth more than $40 million to join the Bengals, returning to the city where he played his collegiate football.<\/p>\n<p>Cook was one of the better safeties in the league last season, tallying 85 combined tackles, six pass breakups and earning the No. 4 ranking at the position out of 98 safeties who saw enough snaps to qualify in 2025, per Pro Football Focus.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Chiefs Lost 2 Starting Cornerbacks to Rams This Offseason via Trade, Free Agency<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_5806002\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Trent-McDuffie-e1772645455797.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" alt=\"Chiefs Predicted to Replace Bryan Cook With Ultra-Athletic Safety in NFL Draft\" width=\"782\" height=\"440\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5806002\" data-lazy-load=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5806002\">GettyFormer Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The loss of Cook was exacerbated by Kansas City\u2019s trade of superstar cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams and fellow starting CB Jaylen Watson\u2019s decision to join L.A. as well in free agency.<\/p>\n<p>Given how depleted the Chiefs\u2019 secondary has become in a matter of weeks since the start of the new league year on March 11, Kansas City is a potential player for one of the top cornerbacks in the draft with the 9th overall pick.<\/p>\n<p>Mansoor Delane of LSU is most analysts\u2019 pick as the top option in the 2026 class, and there is a reasonable chance he will be available to the Chiefs inside the top 10.<\/p>\n<p>Kansas City is also a candidate to trade up, potentially as high as No. 3 overall with the Arizona Cardinals, should the franchise decide that it wants to go all-in on selecting one of the three elite pass-rushers in this year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n<p>Max Dible covers the NFL, NBA and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Cleveland Browns. He covered local and statewide news as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and served as news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group&#8217;s family of Big Island radio stations before joining Heavy. More about Max Dible<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty ESPN&#8217;s Jeremy Fowler reported defensive back Treydan Stukes will visit the Seattle Seahawks for a pre-draft visit. The Kansas City Chiefs said goodbye to most of&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":177577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\ud83d\udea8 GAME-CHANGER FOR KC: Chiefs Predicted to Replace Bryan Cook with Ultra-Athletic Safety in NFL Draft \u2014 A Bold Move for the Future \ud83d\udc47 A New Era for Kansas City: The Chiefs Eyeing a Dynamic Safety to Step In \u2014 Could This Be the Key to Strengthening Their Defense? - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=177567\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\ud83d\udea8 GAME-CHANGER FOR KC: Chiefs Predicted to Replace Bryan Cook with Ultra-Athletic Safety in NFL Draft \u2014 A Bold Move for the Future \ud83d\udc47 A New Era for Kansas City: The Chiefs Eyeing a Dynamic Safety to Step In \u2014 Could This Be the Key to Strengthening Their Defense? - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Getty ESPN&#8217;s Jeremy Fowler reported defensive back Treydan Stukes will visit the Seattle Seahawks for a pre-draft visit. 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