About 24 hours after news of his signing, the Kansas City Chiefs finalized the corresponding cut that freed up a spot for defensive tackle Isaiah Buggs.

“To make room for new practice squad DT Isaiah Buggs, the Chiefs terminated the practice squad contract of S Tyree Gillespie,” reported A-to-Z Sports Kansas City media member Charles Goldman on Friday, January 5.

The KC insider added that the move “could signal the return of Chiefs S Bryan Cook is near.”

Cook has been sidelined with an ankle injury since Week 13. At first, the ailment appeared to be season-ending, considering the second-year safety was in a great deal of pain as he was carted off the field. Fortunately, the actual prognosis was less severe as ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported a negative X-ray on December 4.

That meant no breaks or tears in his ankle, or any of the surrounding ligaments. Instead, the injury was diagnosed as a sprain.

And while said sprain was still serious enough to force Cook onto the injured reserve down the stretch, it left the door open for a potential playoff return. In the meantime, in came Gillespie for depth, so his departure could hint that the starting DB is on the mend.

Chiefs S Mike Edwards Notes Bryan Cook Is ‘Doing Great’ Ahead of Week 18
Although there hasn’t been a clear injury update on Cook in some time, veteran safety Mike Edwards did talk about his teammate in the secondary on January 3.

“He’s doing great,” Edwards told reporters on Wednesday, regarding Cook. “He’s doing real good.”

“[Cook] got to go back home to Cincinnati to see his family and everything,” Edwards went on. “So that’s good. I’ve been talking to him all the time.”

Later, Edwards also revealed that Cook gave the Chiefs secondary a pregame speech ahead of the key Week 17 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Just go out there and play strong,” Edwards relayed via Cook. “Don’t worry about any outside noise leading up to the game. He was just saying we all need to lean on each other on the back end because you know [the Bengals are] going to test our DBs with the receivers they have and explosive players they have. [He was] just telling us to get our mindset right — which we did; we came out there with the right mindset.”

Before the game, Bengals superstar WR Ja’Marr Chase insulted the entire KC secondary, including Cook. The Cincy playmaker insisted that he had no idea who Cook was when asked about the impact of his injury absence ahead of the matchup.

For now, a classic Andy Reid “we’ll see” is all the media has gotten on Cook.

Tyree Gillespie Unable to Stand Out With Chiefs
It ended up being a short stint on the KC practice squad for Gillespie.

The 25-year-old defensive back was selected in the fourth round of the 2021 draft by the division rival Las Vegas Raiders. He appeared in 11 games with the Raiders as a rookie, contributing mostly on special teams throughout his inaugural campaign.

Needless to say, things didn’t work out for Gillespie in Las Vegas. The Silver and Black actually traded the safety prospect to the Tennessee Titans for a conditional pick the following summer, but that didn’t last either as Gillespie was unable to survive the final cutdown in Tennessee.

From there, he was claimed by the Jacksonville Jaguars before eventually making his way to the Chiefs. Gillespie appeared in three games with the Jags as a special teamer in 2022, and hasn’t suited up in a regular season outing since.