{"id":44295,"date":"2025-03-26T12:59:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T12:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=44295"},"modified":"2025-03-26T12:59:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T12:59:09","slug":"chiefs-second-year-pro-expected-to-step-up-into-huge-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=44295","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs Second-Year Pro Expected to &#8216;Step Up&#8217; Into Huge Role"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Jaden-Hicks-e1742965197147.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Jaden-Hicks-e1742965197147.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Jaden-Hicks-e1742965197147.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Jaden-Hicks-e1742965197147.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Chiefs Second-Year Pro Expected to 'Step Up' Into Huge Role\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Kansas City Chiefs safety Jaden Hicks could be leaned on much more heavily in 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Kansas City Chiefs tend to lose two or three important players in NFL free agency every offseason. The key is identifying the correct prospects and\/or signings who are ready to step right in and replace them the following year.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of starting safety and defensive team leader Justin Reid \u2014 who left on the open market \u2014 that next man up is already on the roster according to Pro Football Network\u2019s team of analysts. PFN highlighted second-year safety Jaden Hicks as the \u201cmost likely\u201d KC player to \u201cstep up\u201d in 2025, and the recent fourth-round pick is the perfect choice for multiple reasons.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSafety Justin Reid has been a staple of the Kansas City Chiefs defense since he joined the team in 2022,\u201d Pro Football Network wrote within a list shared with Heavy on Chiefs. \u201cHe became a free agent and signed with the New Orleans Saints. It\u2019s never easy losing a veteran leader who\u2019s contributed a great deal to the team\u2019s success, but Jaden Hicks may be up to the task of taking over the strong safety spot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Chiefs drafted Hicks in the fourth round last April, and the former Washington State standout exceeded expectations,\u201d PFN went on. \u201cHicks appeared in 20 games last season, including the playoffs. He recorded 42 tackles, three interceptions, and five pass breakups. He was targeted 14 times in the regular season, allowing a passer rating of 79.5.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Finally, the football analysis site added that \u201cHicks consistently got better as the season progressed, and playing behind and learning from Reid certainly helped.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Reid now gone, it\u2019ll be Hicks\u2019 show,\u201d they concluded, \u201cand he\u2019s clearly already earned the trust of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Chiefs Safety Jaden Hicks Was Utilized Heavily Down the Stretch in 2024<\/h2>\n<p>Kansas City pretty much prepped for this transition already, increasing Hicks\u2019 defensive snap count down the stretch.<\/p>\n<p>Early on in his rookie year, he was getting less than 10 defensive snaps per game according to Pro Football Focus. That number steadily increased as the season went on, and then it really picked up in Week 15 versus the Cleveland Browns.<\/p>\n<p>Hicks was on the field for 41 defensive snaps against the Browns, earning an impressive 79.6 overall grade (with a 77.2 as a tackler and a 74.8 in coverage). Before long, the rookie DB broke that snap count high on Christmas Day versus Pittsburgh with 53, then broke it again the following week as KC rested their starters.<\/p>\n<p>In Hicks\u2019 lone NFL start, he was fantastic, posting his second best PFF grade of the season (80.8). The Chiefs backups got blown out that game, but it wasn\u2019t Hicks\u2019 fault. The draft pick earned a 67.1 in run defense, 81.4 as a tackler and 79.2 in coverage.<\/p>\n<p>More specifically, Hicks was credited with 4 key defensive \u201cstops\u201d that game, as well as a low 56.3 passer rating when targeted (1 catch for 2 yards).<\/p>\n<p>The youngster continued that momentum into the playoffs with two 50-snap outings of solid impact and a relatively flawless 39-snap effort during the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Chiefs\u2019 Jaden Hicks Is an Upgrade on Justin Reid in Pass Coverage, But Might Be Slightly Worse as a Run Defender<\/h2>\n<p>If Hicks does have a weakness, it appears to be run defense. That\u2019s not to say he\u2019s a bad run defender, because he\u2019s not, but the soon-to-be 23-year-old seems more average \u2014 or slightly above average \u2014 in this area.<\/p>\n<p>He was borderline elite as a tackler in year one, however, with just 1 missed tackle over 469 snaps, and he was also very high quality in pass coverage.<\/p>\n<p>PFN relayed a lot of Hicks\u2019 statistics in these areas above, but the one that stands out most in his accumulative passer rating against as a rookie. That low 79.5 passer rating against speaks volumes to how good Hicks can become with just a little bit more development.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Obermuller covers the NFL and NHL for Heavy.com, where he began writing in 2021. His areas of focus include the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins, as well as the New York Rangers and New York Islanders. An NYC area native and Quinnipiac graduate, his previous bylines include FanDuel&#8217;s The Duel, King Fantasy Sports and Pro Football Mania. More about Michael Obermuller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Chiefs are expected to promote a recent draft pick into a starting role in 2025, replacing a key NFL free agency departure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":44296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44295","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>Chiefs Second-Year Pro Expected to &#039;Step Up&#039; Into Huge Role - 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=44295\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chiefs Second-Year Pro Expected to &#039;Step Up&#039; 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