Kansas City Chiefs move quickly to replace Bryan Cook in free agency with Drue Tranquill’s college teammate

The Chiefs stopped the bleeding in the secondary during 2026 NFL free agency with S Alohi Gilman.

Charles Goldman, Kyle Crabbs
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The Kansas City Chiefs lost free agent S Bryan Cook to the Cincinnati Bengals just hours ago, and they’ve already found a replacement to help stop the bleeding.

As first reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Chiefs signed former Baltimore Ravens S Alohi Gilman to a three-year, $24.75 million deal with $15M fully guaranteed. A former sixth-round pick by the Los Angeles Chargers out of Notre Dame in the 2020 NFL Draft, Kansas City is plenty familiar with Gilman from his time in the AFC West and the AFC North.

Chiefs LB Drue Tranquill is also plenty familiar with Gilman, as the pair played together with the Fighting Irish for two seasons in 2017 and 2018.

Alohi Gilman gives the Chiefs a playmaker in the deep half of the field

The 5-foot-10 and 205-pound Gilman was shipped to the Ravens last season by the Chargers in the Odafe Oweh trade after spending the previous five seasons in Los Angeles.

The soon-to-be 29-year-old started all 17 games for the first time in his career last season, splitting time between LA and Baltimore. During that span, he recorded 90 total tackles, one tackle for loss, nine passes defended, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, and an interception returned 84 yards for a touchdown.

He fits the Chiefs’ need for a free safety with Cook heading to Cincinnati.

“Gilman has steadily developed into a consistent starter at the NFL level, and his showcase in Baltimore was continued evidence of that. He was traded from the Chargers to the Ravens as part of a swap with Odafe Oweh early in the season. Gilman is aided by the league’s trends to play more split field coverages, which prevents him from charged with coverting too much grass on the back end. From there, his good instincts and reliable tackling allow him to track the football and be in position to make tackles and prevent added yardage.” – A to Z Sports’ Kyle Crabbs

According to PFF, Gilman played the 17th-most zone coverage snaps among safeties in the NFL last season, over 100 more snaps than Cook, but allowed a similar completion percentage (73.1%) with 14 forced incompletions and only one touchdown allowed. He might not be an upgrade, but he’s certainly not a major downgrade.

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