Bryan Cook sounds like the first Bengals free agent signing with a specific Cincinnati experience he wants to emulate
The Cincinnati native will be repping his hometown team for the next few years.
The Cincinnati Bengals have had plenty of former Cincinnati Bearcats on their roster before. They’ve signed ample free agents since making the trip to Super Bowl LVI four years ago.
Bryan Cook may be their first free agent signing who was just genuine fan during that near championship-winning season.
Cook inked a three-year, $40.25 million contract with the Bengals last week to officially return home to Cincinnati. The former Kansas City Chiefs free safety was born and raised in the Queen City, and played his final three years of college ball for the Cincinnati Bearcats.
The crescendo of his time in Cincy before moving on to the NFL was a time he’ll never forget, and wants to experience again now that he’s back in town.
Bryan Cook wants to create more championship moments in his hometown
While the Bearcats were coming off an appearance in the College Football Playoff, the Bengals still had title dreams alive and well thanks to an AFC Championship Game victory over the Chiefs on Jan. 30, 2022.
Cook’s Bearcats couldn’t get past the Semifinal, and the Bengals were the runner-up several weeks later, but both seasons coinciding created a lifetime memory the now 26-year old defensive back wants to experience again with a better ending.
“Yeah, we were in Clifton and having a party, you know, when we were in the AFC Championship,” Cook recalled last week. “Having that then plus our own success, it was just something that I want to implement.
“I want to have that happen again but on a different aspect, on a bigger aspect, but just not have it one time. I want to have it consistently.”
Cook knows what it takes to reach the mountaintop more than once. He was a part of back-to-back Super Bowl titles in his first two years with K.C. He had to topple the Bengals to reach his first Super Bowl, and defeated them again in the 2023 regular season on his way to a second ring in as many years.
It wasn’t personal then. Now that he’s back playing in Cincy, he can help spark the energy he witnessed four years ago.
“It was definitely a memory that I will never forget,” Cook said. “I still can remember like, how me being in my dorm, just hearing the whole city just going nuts and just excited, and it was a joy as a person from here that I can’t explain.”
First a local college kid witnessing it all from campus, to an NFL vet looking to rekindle that magic, Cook now has the chance to help lead his childhood team to the glory he’s already experienced for himself.
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