Bengals’ new ‘alpha’ leader is starting to become undeniable very early on and it’s exactly what Cincinnati needs
Bryan Cook has made the impression he needed to make as the Cincinnati Bengals’ new starting safety. His coach, quarterback, and club as a whole are noticing his early impact as a leader.
Bryan Cook has made the impression he needed to make.
It’s only been three months since the Cincinnati Bengals signed Cook to start at safety next to Jordan Battle. He’s replacing the maligned Geno Stone, but no one will see how much of a difference he’ll make as a tackler until the pads come on.
All Cook can do right now is lead. Lead a defense that entered the offseason in desperate need of players worth following.
It’s become very clear he’s been that so far.
Bryan Cook’s leadership has already echoed
It started with quarterback Joe Burrow, who noticed Cook’s presence very early on after arriving for voluntary workouts last month.
“You see that out of Bryan Cook from Day One,” Burrow said additionally. “You can tell that he’s going to set a standard in that room and make everybody live up to it and put pressure on everybody if they don’t.”
It’s early, early install days for the Bengals and their reloaded defense. Cook himself is adapting to the scheme he signed on for. He’s also ensuring everyone else around him is keeping up.
Burrow and head coach Zac Taylor are usually aligned in how they see things. That’s the case with Cook as well.
“Vocal,” Zac Taylor said of Cook during his latest press conference. “Not afraid. He’s not gonna bite his tongue, irregardless of how long he’s been here, you know, he’s not afraid. He knows what championship-caliber defense looks like, and he’s got the Super Bowl rings to prove it. He’s out here trying to help us set the standard as a team, not just on defense, but as a team, and so you need as many guys like that, that know what it’s supposed to look like, and are willing to help younger guys, and not afraid to bite their tounge on their way to doing that. I think is really positive thing for us.”
Giving what the Bengals need
Leadership comes in many forms and for Cook, it’s clear he leads with his words as well as his play. Per The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr., this is exactly what Cincinnati had in mind with both Cook and new nose tackle Dexter Lawrence.
“The recognition of sort of the alpha leadership that you’re hearing about Bryan Cook and Dexter Lawrence, specifically, is notable,” Dehner said on First Word with James Rapien. “Everybody’s talking about it, like, man, those guys have come in and they were clearly told, you need to be a leader. And we heard this from Zac Taylor, from Al Golden, from Duke Tobin way back in February, we need leaders, we need somebody who can come in and hold accountable everybody in the room, and be the guy, who says ‘I’m the guy,’ and everybody look up to that. They have really owned that in the immediate days.”
This is what an early return on a veteran addition is supposed to sound like. Cook is getting his new teammates in line early so the standard is set for when the games begin.
Accountability was needed on the Bengals’ defense as much as an influx of talent. They’re getting both in Cook, and had to wait no time at all to see it in action.