Bengals fans should be confident in $40M Bryan Cook signing for 60% reason

This offseason, the Cincinnati Bengals made a few big roster moves, adding talent along the trenches with Jonathan Allen and Boye Mafe, and in the secondary with Bryan Cook.

Of these roster moves, the most noteworthy one is the Cook signing. Pairing him with Jordan Battle rounds-out the safety room and could lead the Bengals to passing on Caleb Downs in the 2026 NFL Draft.

But, in regard to Cook and how much confidence Bengals fans should have in him, ESPN's Bill Barnwell revealed that fans should be confident in this signing for a 60% reason.

Bengals fans have 60% reason to be confident in Bryan Cook signing

Barnwell analyzed the last decade of free agent signings, from 2013 through 2022, and in that study, he found that safety is the best-performing position in the entire league in free agency when it comes to success rate.

Over those 10 years in free agency, safeties had a 60% success rate, easily the best mark of any position, with the next closest coming in at just 49.1%.

With this study in mind, Bengals fans should be incredibly confident that Cook, the star safety the Bengals signed from the Kansas City Chiefs, will be a good player.

More: Bengals to sign Bryan Cook to $40.25 million contract

The success rate of safeties signing new deals with teams in free agency is significantly higher than it is for any other position in the league.

While Cook, the two-time Super Bowl champion who has three interceptions, 15 passes defended, 238 total tackles, and was one of the top free agents coming into the new league year, was an obvious quality target, this study should give fans more confidence.

This three-year, $40.25 million contract for Cook is a very reasonable one, and with the success rate of safeties in free agency, according to Barnwell's study, being 60%, fans should be confident Cook will be a good signing for the team.

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