Jaden Hicks of the Washington State Cougars celebrates a road win over the Wisconsin Badgers on ... [+]
Prior to the 2024 NFL Draft, Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach singled out safety as a position of depth.
After all, the Chiefs had third-year Bryan Cook, second-year Chamarri Connor and veterans Justin Reid and Deon Bush on their roster.
But they selected safety Jaden Hicks in the fourth round (133rd overall) anyway.
Part of it is the Chiefs go by the scouting adage of staying true to the way they ranked their 221 prospects on their draft board.
“We have some really good safeties here on this team, but just from a talent perspective and long-term planning perspective, it was just too good of a player to pass up,” Veach said. “He was by far the best player available.”
Hicks’ value was so great that Dane Brugler, The Athletic’s NFL draft analyst, had ranked Hicks as his No. 1 safety and projected him to go in the second round (No. 39 overall).
But beyond providing good value, Hicks also could fill a need after the 2024 season.
Reid is a leader who played more than 96% of the defensive snaps in all but three games last year, but the 27-year-old player is entering the last year of his three-year, $31.5 million contract.
Hicks could serve as a cheaper replacement on a team that must fit the salaries of stars like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones under the salary cap and still hopes to sign Creed Humphrey, Trey Smith and Nick Bolton to contract extensions.
A Stanford product, Reid is savvy, durable and a hard hitter, but he’s not exactly a ballhawk. He has just one interception in his two years with Kansas City.
A two-year starter at Washington State, Hicks played deep half, deep middle, in the box and over the slot in a 4-2-5 base scheme, but he’s probably best known for his hitting as well.
The Chiefs mostly played him at free safety early in rookie camp, and during Saturday’s practice, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who is great at working with defensive backs, was coaching up Hicks on how to better disguise his alignment.
“I love (Spagnuolo’s) energy,” Hicks said. “I’m going to fit right in with this defense.”
With so much safety depth, though, Hicks’ biggest contribution may come on special teams at least initially.
“(Dave) Toub is going to have a blast with him,” Veach said. “He’s a guy that you can do a lot of different things with. He’s a big kid. He has good range. He’s physical. He can play down low in the box. He can play in the back end.”
Those latter skills are why he could replace Reid.
Even knowing that potential, Reid has been an unselfish, team-first guy. He texted the 21-year-old Hicks right after he got selected, letting him know he was there if he needed anything.
That message came on Day Three of the draft instead of the Day Four because the 6-3, 212-pound safety surprisingly fell to the fourth round.
As he embarks on his NFL career, Hicks plans to use that draft slide as motivation.
“That definitely fueled the fire just that much more,” he said. “I gotta make everybody pay for that.”
