Chiefs S Bryan Cook Exits Playoff Game vs. Texans with Apparent Injury

Early in the Chiefs' divisional round playoff game against the Texans, safety Bryan Cook exited with an apparent injury.

Nov 10, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs safety Bryan Cook (6) kneels on field against the Denver Broncos prior to a game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

UPDATE: Cook returned to the game to start the second half.

The original story, in its entirety, starts below.

Coming into their playoff run, the Kansas City Chiefs were perhaps as healthy as they'd been at any point in the season. That didn't last for too long, however, as the back-to-back Super Bowl champions saw one of their starters get knocked out of the game early on Saturday.

Late in the first quarter of this weekend's divisional round outing against the Houston Texans, safety Bryan Cook suffered an apparent injury on a tackle attempt. The veteran defensive back subsequently left the contest for the on-site blue medical tent and eventually headed back to the locker room.

Per ESPN's in-game broadcast, Cook was being evaluated for a potential head injury. This was later confirmed by the Chiefs.

S Bryan Cook is being evaluated for a head injury. pic.twitter.com/U8RobUKkbR

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 18, 2025

During the regular season, Cook started all 17 games for Kansas City and played a whopping 974 defensive snaps for Steve Spagnuolo's unit. That was good for 90% of those available, making Cook a valued starter alongside Justin Reid.

From Weeks 14-17, however, Cook spent each game logging between 63-78% of available defensive reps. That coincided with rookie standout Jaden Hicks seeing an increased workload, which head coach Andy Reid said he'd earned previously. Hicks became part of a three-headed monster at safety with Reid and Cook, which was the idea all along once Cook got healthy after suffering a season-ending ankle injury late last year.

During the offseason, Cook admitted that he was feeling significant pressure to bounce back in his third season.

"Overwhelmed," Cook said. "A lot of pressure, you know, a lot of expectations for myself. But it's all a blessing, it's all a blessing. Pressure makes diamonds. At that point, just realizing it's the process [and] you've got to go through it."

This season, Cook was posting some of his personal best marks in coverage. Numbers like completion percentage allowed (61.7), yards per target (8.4) and passer rating (92.2) were all improvements over his rookie and sophomore campaigns. Any time he misses will see the secondary likely shuffle in Hicks and maintain a significant workload.

Read More: Andy Reid Ensuring Chiefs Are 'Tunneled In’ Despite Magnitude of Possible Three-Peat