Philadelphia Eagles: Bryan Cook is an ideal Day 2 draft target

There’s a chance the Philadelphia Eagles leave the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft with Kyle Hamilton under contract. Not a big chance, mind you; there’s just as good of a chance that the pride of Notre Dame comes off the board in the top-5 as him sticking around to 15, maybe even more so, depending on how well the talking heads are reading the tea leaves.

There’s also a chance the Eagles don’t draft a safety entirely and instead opt to pay up for the top free agent left on the market, Tyrann Mathieu, who will surely demand a deal similar to the one the Indianapolis Colts just handed out to Stephon Gilmore. If that happens, Philly will have secured their best free agent safety signee since Malcolm Jenkins all the way back in 2014 and will be able to re-center their secondary around one of the most versatile defensive backs in the league.

But what if neither of those things happens? What if Mathieu signs with another team tomorrow, and Hamilton finds himself in a Gotham green instead of midnight green? Will Howie Roseman rock with the, um, “dynamic” trio of Marcus Epps, Anthony Harris, and K’Von Wallace? Or will he have to make a trade for an established performer from some other team across the league?

Fortunately, there are more than a few safeties who will be available in the second to later rounds who could be impactful players for the Philadelphia Eagles, most intriguingly Bryan Cook, a collegiate Bearcat who hits like a hammer and already plays like a pro.

Bryan Cook is an ideal do-it-all safety for the Philadelphia Eagles.

What kind of safety do the Philadelphia Eagles need for Jonathan Gannon’s defensive scheme? Are they looking for a deep center fielder who can make quick decisions and cover a ton of ground in a hurry versus the pass? Or a box safety who can support the run and cover closer to the line of scrimmage?

In a way, they need neither… but also both.

That’s right; in the ideal deployment of Gannon’s scheme, the Eagles would run out two safeties who deploy deep but not too deep, as they’ll both find themselves tasked with supporting the run if the quarterback hands off the ball after it snaps. These players need to be decently fast, sure, but also need plus burst to get to their spot in a hurry and an ability to stop ball handlers dead in their tracks before they can pick up too many yards after the catch.

Bryan Cook, the Cinncinatti Bearcats’ strong safety, unquestionably fits that bill.

Measuring in at 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, Cook is an incredible hitter capable of stopping would-be receivers in their tracks before they can even comfortably complete the catch. A three-star recruit coming out of high school, Cook played two years with the Howard Bison at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level, before transferring back to his home state to play for Luke Fickell’s squad just a few miles south of his high school, Mount Healthy. Over his two full seasons plus a bowl game in Cincinnati, Cook appeared in 25 games with only 16 starts and was able to amass 122 total tackles, six tackles for a loss, and 11 pass breakups over his return romp through the “Queen of the West.”

In 2021, Cook picked up 96 total tackles, five tackles for a loss, a sack, two interceptions, and nine passes defended over 14 games of action. He also recorded seven forced incompletions and 25 run stops, marks that rank seventh and fifth nationwide, respectively, and helped to lead his Bearcats squad all the way to the NCAA College Football Playoffs, where Cincinnati predictably lost to Alabama by a score of 27-6 in the Cotton Bowl. While he didn’t run at the combine, Cook looks quick enough to be a two-high/box safety in the NFL and has the sort of burst that would suggest strong jumping numbers as well.

What, you didn’t watch much AAC football last fall? Not even for Temple? Well, check out his highlight reel here; it’s really good.

In the Philadelphia Eagles’ scheme, Cook would start at strong safety right away. He’d kick Anthony Harris back to free safety, the position he largely played in Minnesota, stay on the field regardless of down and distance, and provide crucial support versus the run that Rodney McLeod was ill-equipped to provide in his first and probably only season in Gannon’s scheme.

Have you been clamoring for a safety who can put the hit stick on an opposing ball handler? Cook is that guy in this class. When he sets his sights on a ball handler in space, especially a running back or rushing quarterback, he goes full-on “Terminator” and chases them down with a relentless motor. Not only that, but when he arrives, he hits his mark so hard that the ball often comes loose before it can be legally caught, turning a small gain into an incomplete pass or, better yet, a forced fumble.

For a team starved for a playmaker at the back of their defense, Cook has the potential to be “that guy” for a very long time at the back of the Birds’ secondary.

One way or another, the Philadelphia Eagles will address the safety position before the season opens up at the end of August/early September. They might catch a lucky break and luck into Kyle Hamilton, miss out on the players they like and pay up for Tyrann Mathieu, or even trade down from pick 18 to the later part of the first round and opt to select a player like Dax Hill, who provides interesting position versatility in the defensive secondary. But for my money, the right path may just be to hold tight, secure some big-time players in the first round, and draft Sauce Gardner‘s teammate Bryan Cook on Day 2, as his eye-popping plays would look incredible in midnight green.