Victory Formation

Fans hold close to the archaic view that RBs are never worth a second contract or a big payday. I think in some cases they are. How are we going to replace 18 TDs? That’s a lot of production that we need to replace. Not to mention that we have to burn a high draft pick in doing so.

It’s way too early for this. Let me see what we do in Free Agency and the Draft first.

He was probably reading through this thread..

I don’t think he’s in bad company at all.. For what it’s worth, he had a very good season in 2023 as well.. I feel like his vision has gotten a lot better and I love the way he hides behind blockers. I feel like there was a physicality to his game that wasn’t there years prior.. Should we pay him $15M/year? No, I’m hoping he can come down a bit. I think $12M-$12.5M/year is fair for both sides. I don’t think he’s peaked yet as a receiver either.. I believe he can produce at a higher level. A weapon is a weapon. You build around what you have.

Most folks would agree with you. I got torched on the front page for going against the grain but people were respectful about it so no love lost. It’s all good, we’re all Bills fans anyways.. Cheers.

He scores a lot of touchdowns though.. that has to be the key metric for an offensive player, at least for the skill position guys anyways.

I believe we have plenty of talent at LB. Bernard, Milano, Williams and Ulofoshio are good enough for now.

Ray Davis and Ty Johnson could combine for 18 TDs? I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, but if I were a gambling man I’d make you a wager.. Once again, as far as team building goes, don’t get too philosophical. Good teams retain talent regardless of the position. You work with what you got.. As far as the light boxes are concerned, while that may true, we are torching teams because of it. If you give Cook an inch he takes a mile.. And as much as I love Josh, it’s nice to have someone who can generate offense outside of him. Do you put a man in the box to stop Cook? Or do you drop a man in coverage to stop Josh? I will also say this, the NFL is seemingly moving towards teams having strong running attacks again. The Eagles have Barkley, the Ravens have Henry, the Lions have Gibbs, the Packers have Jacobs, the Rams have Williams……. we can go on and on.. Joe Brady likes to run a 12 man offense, why oh why would you get rid of your top RB? It would be like a rock band firing their lead singer right before a show.. Allen and Cook together are a nightmare for teams to stop on the ground, especially when they have to account for our passing game. Why change what’s working? People need to remember, once again, just because Cook wants $15M/year, it doesn’t mean he’ll get it and I’m sure he knows that, but when you’re negotiating something, you always start with your highest number.

You can’t just replace 18 TDs with jags.. He’s worth more than Von Miller, he’s worth more than Dawson Knox, he’s worth more than Matt Milano, he’s worth more than Daquan Jones, he’s worth more than Curtis Samuel.. Don’t get too philosophical when it comes to team building. I understand that it would be ideal to pay a top 10 WR or an elite DE but you got to build off of the core players you have. James Cook is a top 10 back. He’s a known commodity, pay the man. I've went over reason after reason as to why we should sign him. Cut the dead weight from this roster and it’ll be more than enough to sign him. He wants $15M/year, meaning we can probably lock him down for $12.5M/year or thereabouts. Everybody starts with their highest number while negotiating. I think with a little bit of creativity, Beane can sign, Cook, Shakir, Rousseau and Bernard.. no problem. Christian Benford on the other hand has been fantastic but I’m not sure if we should pay him $20M/year, especially in McD’s system.

If we let him walk, how would you replace his TD production? 18 TDs is a lot to replace.

He can convert a 3rd & 1 or a 4th and short. I don’t understand all this hate. James Cook was a physical force all year. He had no problems whatsoever getting the tough yards.

Outside of Josh Allen, James Cook leads the Bills in TDs by a wide margin. James Cook 18 TDs total Ray Davis 6 TDs total Mack Hollins 5 TDs total Keon Coleman 4 TDs total Khalil Shakir 4 TDs total Ty Johnson 4 TDs total Dalton Kincaid 2 TDs total Amari Cooper 2 TDs total Tyrell Shavers 1 TD total Quentin Morris 1 TD total Curtis Samuel 1 TDs Dawson Knox 1 TDs ——- I would also like to add a few other points that I failed to touch on in my earlier posts: 1.) If Josh Allen gets injured and misses 2-4 games, Cook can carry the team and help us win a few of those games.. 2.) The NFL is moving back to running the ball. The Eagles and Ravens are two very good examples of that. 3.) If Josh Allen is struggling we can still pound the ball effectively. 4.) James Cook put up 18 TDs is highly impressive. He’s entering LaDanian Tomlinson, Priest Holmes type territory. 5.) Cook is not just a speed back he ran physically all year. He had no issue with lowering his pads getting tough yards.. Disclaimer: I am usually diametrically opposed to signing running backs as well but Cook is too good to let walk, he’s young too and this is only his second contract.

I have no idea how much he will get paid but I do think Beane should exhaust all options to convince him to stay long term. Bills fans are looking at this the wrong way. They see a RB, I see a weapon. Whenever we can add a weapon I think we should do it. Barkley certainly helped the Eagles in a profound way this year, did he not?

He’s worth it. He should be a priority. He’s worth every penny. If Allen is having a bad game Cook can carry the team.

Here’s our top 3 corners pff grade: Christian Benford 82.6 overall Taron Johnson 65.0 overall Rasul Douglas 59.2 overall At safety we have: Damar Hamlin 60.2 overall Taylor Rapp 59.2 overall Cole Bishop 49.2 overall I’m with you that we should add another corner but I think we need to add another safety as well. Now how you want us to do that I don’t know. I suppose a have a stronger proclivity towards adding a safety in Free Agency because of the nature of the position, it requires a great deal of knowledge and experience to master that position. A rookie safety will fare no better than Cole Bishop did in his rookie season. I do agree strongly with you however that we need to focus heavy on DL. I would not be upset in any way if we added two linemen with our first two picks.. And by all means add a few guys in Free Agency as well.. Maybe start by extending Gregory Rousseau before he has a breakout year? It will be interesting to see who we cut/get rid of when it comes to freeing up roster space going into Free Agency.. That should give us more insight into what Beane and McD plan on doing. Till then your guess is as good as mine.

They can do both. We can likely find a DT/NT at 30 that can do both, it was implied.

I like Benford and I like Douglas. Our issues were at safety in my opinion.. We missed Poyer and Hyde in their prime more so than Tre. I hope Buffalo addresses safety in FA. Please get this defense a top tier veteran to solidify that unit. I’m more than okay with Bishop and Rapp filling in the rest.

Well done, there’s others too.. Vita Vea immediately comes to mind.. Jalen Carter, Quinnen Williams and Jeffrey Simmons, Ndamukong Suh..

I may be a minority here but I think that Buffalo should extend Greg Rousseau to a 3-4 year deal at $15M/yr or somewhere in that ballpark and draft a fat NT in the bottom of RD1.. I understand that fans say that he’s a good player and not a great one but when rebuilding our DL, it would make sense to cut the bottom feeders first. Rousseau and Oliver is a really solid base to work with when fortifying our DL. Buffalo should look drafting a true NT, another DE and another WR in RDs 1-2. I don’t care what they do after that. If the want to sign a top safety in FA, that would be nice too.

I think Rapp and Bishop are nice pieces but I felt like Buffalo paid a heavy price for the absence of Poyer and Hyde at times. It would make a lot of sense to add a playmaker at safety.

The one enigma we have going into next season is how last year’s rookies and the year prior will do.

I don’t know how I feel about this. On one hand if we can get 3-4 years out of Myles at his highest apex level he would be worth it, but on the other hand he’s almost 30.

I suspect that Lamar, Josh and Mahomes will all be in the top 7-8 when it’s all said and done.

I recuse myself from grading some of these old time QBs, I’ll leave it up to you boomers to do that. I’ll stick to what I know, which isn’t much. 1.) Tom Brady 2.) Joe Montana 3.) Peyton Manning 4.) John Elway 5.) Patrick Mahomes 6.) Dan Marino 7.) Brett Favre 8.) Steve Young 9.) Aaron Rodgers 10.) Drew Brees 11.) Josh Allen 12.) Ben Roethlisberger 13.) Eli Manning 14.) Kurt Warner 15.) Russell Wilson 16.) Donovan McNabb 17.) Lamar Jackson 18.) Matthew Stafford 19.) Phillip Rivers 20.) Andrew Luck

Ditto.