2 former Wazzu Cougars set for Super Bowl

A pair of Cougs will play in the Super Bowl — one for the first time and the other for the third straight year.

Former Washington State defensive backs Jaden Hicks and Jaylen Watson — both of Kansas City — will play in Super Bowl LIX when the Chiefs challenge the Philadelphia Eagles at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, La. Fox will broadcast the game.

The Chiefs drafted Watson in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL draft.

He joined the team at the right time to make an impact on the biggest stage. Watson was a part of the Chiefs’ Super Bowl LVII win over the Eagles two years ago and recovered a muffed punt to set up Kansas City’s comeback victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII last year.

Watson will have played in the Super Bowl in each of his first three seasons.

No team in NFL history has won the Super Bowl in three straight seasons, but Watson and the Chiefs could accomplish that feat on Sunday.

In two years as a Coug in 2020 and 2021, Watson started all 15 games of his college career, made 44 tackles, deflected seven passes and recorded two interceptions.

In three years in the NFL, Watson has 114 total tackles, three interceptions, 18 pass deflections and two sacks.

His NFL arrival moment came on Sept. 15, 2022, when the rookie reserve intercepted Los Angeles Chargers (and former Oregon) quarterback Justin Herbert’s goal-line pass and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown.

Watson racked up two more interceptions in the playoffs, one versus the Jaguars and the other in the AFC Championship versus quarterback Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.

In 2024, Watson suffered an ankle injury that kept him out for months but he returned in time for the playoffs.

Watson said this was the first time, at any level of football, that he had missed games during the season because of injury.

“I just wanted to get back to that brotherhood, those locker room talks, coming to practice, spending time with the guys and just keep stacking Ws,” Watson said in a news conference on Thursday. “Just to be back is a blessing.”

The Chiefs drafted Hicks, the younger Coug on the Chiefs’ roster, in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft, 144th overall, after he spent three years on the Palouse from 2021-23.

In 26 games at WSU, Hicks made 155 tackles, 13 passes defensed and totaled 3.5 sacks.

Hicks recorded 29 tackles, three interceptions and one start in his rookie year.

His first career pick came against Brock Purdy and the 49ers on Oct. 20, the same day that Watson got hurt.

He had interceptions in back-to-back weeks against the Cleveland Browns and the Houston Texans in December.

Hicks said he feels blessed to be in a position to play in the Super Bowl.

“It’s been a lot of meetings, getting the game plan down and a lot of food,” Hicks said of his Super Bowl week experience in a one-on-one interview with Chiefs Report by Chat Sports posted to YouTube.

Oklahoma has the most players in the Super Bowl this year with seven, while Georgia has six and Alabama and Florida have four each.

WSU joins in-state rival University of Washington with two alumni in the big game. The two Huskies on the Chiefs are third-year corner Trent McDuffie and veteran corner Keith Taylor, who is in his second year in KC. Watson hopes for ring No. 3 while Hicks seeks to win it all in his rookie year.

On the opposite sideline, Kellen Moore, a former Prosser High School (Wash.) and Boise State star quarterback, calls the plays for the Eagles as their offensive coordinator.

Moore, 36, led Boise State to a combined 50-3 record in his four seasons as a starter — the most by any QB in college football history. He went undrafted in 2012 and played for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys.

He joined the Cowboys’ coaching staff in 2018 and since 2019 has led the Cowboys’ (2019-22), Chargers’ (2023) and Eagles’ offenses as OC.

The Philadelphia offensive coordinator is rumored to be in line to be the next head coach of the New Orleans Saints.

He will seek to add a Super Bowl win in New Orleans to his resume before he sets his mind to winning a Lombardi for the Big Easy.

Taylor can be reached at 208-848-2268, staylor@lmtribune.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @Sam_C_Taylor.