As the Kansas City Chiefs prepare to host the Chicago Bears in their final preseason game on Friday night, second-year safety Jaden Hicks is stepping into a leadership role.
So far, it’s come about most easily (and naturally) in the heat of competition, where making sure his teammates are lined up properly helps keep them connected. But Hicks is also working on being a vocal leader on the sidelines and in the locker room.
“It’s going pretty well so far,” he told reporters after Wednesday’s practice at the team’s training facility. “I’m just gaining the trust of the guys. We’re all in it together — and everyone’s listening.”
Hicks is sending a preseason message to his teammates: while the scoreboard doesn’t carry weight, effort does.
“That’s something we always preach — and something we live by,” he said. “We’ve got to be in the right spots, align correctly, and play our game plan.”
While there were some positives to be found in last Friday’s performance against the Seattle Seahawks, Hicks is exhorting his teammates to create more of them in this weekend’s finale.
“We want to take a step up,” he noted, “especially with the run game. Seattle was a solid defensive performance [for us], but we can definitely clean things up.”
The biggest problem was the large number of explosive runs the Seahawks collected.
“We had a couple [of] runs break for 10 yards — and as safeties, that just can’t happen,” Hicks said. “We’ve got to make tackles before the sticks. That’s our job, and we need to do better there.”
That begins by adjusting the defense’s attitude — and Hicks and fellow safety Chamarri Conner understand the responsibility for setting that tone falls squarely on the secondary.
“We always say we drive the bus from the back,” he declared. “As a defense, we’ve got to control everything. Guys are stepping up, and we’ve got to be vocal leaders out there.”
Meanwhile, Hicks is learning how to adjust to playing different roles in different packages — which he sees as part of his growth as a player.
“Of course, everyone wants to be out there every snap,” he admitted. “But whatever the coaches ask of you, you’ve got to do it.””
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