Chiefs’ Bryan Cook on his first NFL interception: ‘I’ve been longing for it, honestly’

You’d expect any NFL player to be thrilled to have an interception in a game, but Chiefs’ safety Bryan Cook took that joy to another level.

A mic’d-up video from the Chiefs showed Cook’s reaction after he picked off Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and sewed up KC’s 31-17 win on Sunday.

“I’ve been longing for it, honestly,” Cook said Friday. “We talk about it, especially in the locker room with guys. Trent (McDuffie), he had one last year (he dropped) that he still wishes he could get back. So we’ve just been having a little tit-for-tat, you know what I’m saying? So for me to get one, it was actually a blessing.”

Cook, who was picked in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, repeated the phrase, “I got me one!” at least eight times after making the interception.

That ball will be a special keepsake for Cook, and you’ll note that he never let go of the ball until he was on the sideline.

“I’ve got to get it painted first (with date and info),” Cook said of the ball. “That first one will be very special, especially for me. It’ll be beautiful.”

This is a fun video and it’s cool to see how much that interception meant to Cook.

Rooting for McDuffie

McDuffie, who is also in his second season with the Chiefs, missed a potential interception last season at Las Vegas. Raiders wide receiver Keelan Cole knocked it from McDuffie’s hands.

In a mic’d-up video, you can hear Cook teasing McDuffie about the missed opportunity.

Cook nearly dropped his interception, too, a fact defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo noted in the first video. Cook thought it might be karma coming back to bite him.

“If you go back to the video, (Trent) was mic’d up … I was laughing when he dropped his,” Cook said. “So when I bobbled mine, oh man, I just thought about when he dropped it. I was like ‘Ah, dawg.’ So I finally grabbed it, though. It was a beautiful thing.

“But I’m looking forward to him getting his. Hopefully when he gets his, we can direct him into the end zone. That’d be good for the defense. But just all around, everybody’s flying around getting to the ball, so it’s a beautiful thing.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2023 at 12:18 PM.