As much as I wanted a big free agency splash, tying up 4/5 of the draft picks we hit on and locking them in under market rate is a strong long term move.
We will see about Cook. If anything, there is the franchise tag
I'm not going to make grand promises about the guy but he looks like the kind of player McDermott has made look good. I try to remember that Hyde and Porter weren't some superstar acquisitions. They were solid journeymen who shone paired together in the scheme.
That is why I never freak out at the initial numbers. It's always "up to" and there are so many ways to get outs. It looks like it's a two year deal that effectively can be kicked to three if we want and then if things are going well but the Bills in a prime re-signing window. If it's a flop, the Bills are quickly through the worst of it.
You can critique Beane's player evaluations at times but his contract structuring is top notch
Jeez I knew he's not popular but the response is more dire than I thought. I dont think anyone is mistaking him for a perennial Pro Bowler but if you go around the league a lot of CB2s look like Dane Jackson.
Do I suspect that he'll be fighting for playing time? Absolutely. I suspect that Beane is taking a CB in the first half of the draft and I liked what I saw of Ja'Marcus Ingram in limited time last year. But he's enough of a known quantity that Beane doesn't feel pressured thats he NEEDS to get a Week 1 starter and has to repeat the Elam mistake
It's hard to be angry about picking up a guy you know can hold it down at CB2. I expect one of our top 3 picks to be CB but now it's no longer *such* a glaring position of need.
Pick up a double gapping 1 tech and we are ready for the draft
I unfortunately agree that priority to draft a safety is lower, mostly because safety in a role that I think is critically undervalued and can be acquired with impact in late 1st - 2nd round.
But I like what I've seen in brief clips