BillsFanForever19

I was in the camp that we should have moved on from him. But I feel like if they felt the same way, they'd have worked harder early in Free Agency or higher in the Draft to sign and/or Draft a big time 1T. I think the plan is to rotate Jones more and keep him fresh. Move Sanders over there on obvious passing downs to rush alongside Oliver. But I really don't see much of a chance that they're going to hand the position over to a Round 4 Rookie coming off of a bad back and DeWayne Carter, who would be transitioning to 1T and honestly looked worse than Jones to end last season. Exactly this. They extended Rousseau long term with an 80m deal. They paid Bosa 12.5m for 2025. They signed Hoecht to a long term deal for 21m. They Drafted Landon Jackson with Pick 72. You don't do all of that and then Trade a Day 2 Pick and pay a 9 figure contract to a guy to put over top of all of that.

We keep at least 5 at each DE and DT. At times, we've kept 6 at each. We had 6 in 2023 at DE and we ended last season with 6 at DT (Oliver, Jones, Johnson, Carter, Jefferson, Phillips). It's fairly common for us to have 11 on the DL. With Hoecht and Ogunjobi suspended, we actually aren't that crowded at all. We're at the minimum we keep for each position at 10 total with Groot, Bosa, AJE, Jackson, and Solomon at DE and Oliver, Jones, Sanders, Walker, and Carter at DT. If we trade AJE and/or Jones before Week 7, we're not only not crowded - we're shorthanded. Especially with how often we rotate. A single injury would put us in a tough spot. It wouldn't be unheard of to keep 12 along the DL when Hoecht and Ogunjobi return. And there will surely be injuries in the first 6 weeks that could make room for them. Maybe even along the DL. I don't think either will be cut or traded. If that does happen, I don't see it happening before Week 7. I don't see the team leaving themselves possibly short handed or making room for Ogunjobi and Hoecht before they have them. And I don't think they should. Keep the DL as deep as you can to the point where we're rotating in a quality player at all times.

We're like only 2 months removed from the Myles Garrett situation of a "fractured relationship". No relationship is fractured when it comes to money. If the Bengals change course and give him what he wants, he'll sign and it will all be water under the bridge.

It's funny how when there's someone who wants a new contract and doesn't get it - everyone thinks they're going to hold out into the season. Of all the unhappy players who wanted new contracts last season, there was only one player in the entire league who sat out games. Haason Reddick. And that was less about the contract and more about not wanting to play for the Jets after being traded there. When push comes to shove - players hardly ever give up game checks and pay fines on top of it.

Cue the usual suspects saying trade this and that and this and that and backload the contract and create a Madden rotation at DE.

There's a number of issues with this train of thought. We only keep 3 RB's on the 53. Between Cook, Davis, and Johnson - that's the 3. None of them are being cut. So whomever you Drafted would have to be cut. If you take someone in the 4th, you're most likely not getting them back on the Practice Squad if you cut them. You're playing with fire cutting anyone before Round 6. Even if you could get them back then, they could and most likely would be poached at some point during the season. You don't put that kind of investment into a player you're not going to roster. On top of that, you're wasting 1 of your 4 years you have the guy under contract. There was no need or reason to do it now. We have our RB's this year. Whether you Draft a guy this year and play him next year or Draft a guy next year to play then, it makes no difference. We'd have been wasting a pick unless we moved on from one of Cook, Davis, or Johnson and that's not something they were going to do. You worry about replacing Cook next year, if you have to. And preferably with a Draft prospect (or veteran) with a greater pedigree than you're going to find with a mid to late 4th Round Pick.

He made a fortune in Canadian endorsements. I remember being a kid visiting Toronto and I couldn't go down the street without seeing Doug Flutie on something.

They definitely will bring in someone with speed and elusiveness to replace Cook, if they don't bring him back. I see no scenario where they just roll with Davis and Ty and a similar RB. Part of the strength of running a RB committee offense is having different types of Backs for different situations.

I don't really see a scenario where we don't bring him back and Ray and Ty are our RB1-2. Save for Ray Davis somehow becoming like Derrick Henry in Year 2 or something. Which seems pretty unlikely at 26 years old and given the pedigree he had coming into the league. I see people say all the time that Ray Davis was Drafted as James Cook's successor. I don't believe that to be true. He was Drafted to replace the role and roster spot previously held by Nyheim Hines and Zack Moss before him. If Cook isn't retained, his true replacement will most likely be Drafted in the first 3 Rounds of the 2026 Draft or possibly be a signed or traded for veteran. And that player will be more in line with the type of RB that James Cook is - which is a very different back than Ray Davis is.

Again, you have to keep in mind that he's utilized as 2 Down Back *here*. That doesn't mean other teams won't view him as a 3 Down Back. Other teams may prioritize having an extra weapon on the field over an extra blocker on 3rd Downs. Especially when pretty much everyone and their mother posed the question "why did they take James Cook off the field for the last play of the season?". Every year, guys are signed by other teams for bigger roles than they had on their prior team and are paid more for those new roles. Take Josh Palmer with us, for example. Spotrac had his market value at 3 years, 12.8m based on his role in LA. Clearly, the Bills and other teams as well viewed him as more and the price ended up at 3 years, 29m. It's fair to say that based on how we utilize him, that we shouldn't pay (in your opinion) more than X amount. But it's not fair or accurate to say he'll only be paid X amount league wide when he hits the market based on how we use him because that's how everyone will use him.

We are officially at 90. So we have one more roster spot open (with the exemption for Clayton).

The article also states: So that kind of flies in the face of holding out to a point that he'd miss any regular season time. Between this and Beane's recent comments that Cook's been in contact with people in the building that lead him to believe this won't be an issue this season - I imagine he's not going to miss more than maybe the first week of Training Camp, if anything. I've mentioned this a few times before but it feels like what his brother Dalvin did in 2020. Wherein he threatened he may hold out and it became a story - then he ended up reporting the first day of Training Camp. The family knows that missing any of the season is going to make it harder to get what he wants.

You can wish that's what they were doing - but it's already been said that's not what's happening.

That's not enough for the 99.9% of inaccurate QB's coming from College. All the work in the world doesn't fix that. You think guys like Lance and the many, many big arm athletic QB's who were inaccurate simply didn't work hard enough? There's a reason Richardson is training with Josh Allen this offseason. He's done something that no one else has ever done. And for anyone else not named Josh Allen, what he can show them most likely won't matter.

At least above Kamara at 12.5 at 29 and those numbers rise with the rise in Salary Cap.

Derrick Henry was over 30 years old with recurring foot issues. He also had already made his big money from Tennessee and took less than he could have from other teams to play for a contender. On top of that, the contract market is reset on a yearly basis with the rise in salary cap. The situations are completely different and not really comparable. To focus only on that and ignore the names and prices above that, like 30 year old Aaron Jones at 10m, Josh Jacobs at 12m, 29 year old Alvin Kamara at 12.5, without even taking into account the insane numbers cut off at the top - is cherry picking.

Doug Flutie the GOAT

It's pretty clear reading between the lines of Beane's words and their official label of "Defensive Back" on everything that Jordan Hancock's role on this team is the eventual successor for Cam Lewis as the floating backup Nickel CB and Safety. Even in the little bit he spoke to the media he said "really everywhere" when asked where they were trying him out at. He even talked about learning multiple playbooks for multiple positions. in Year 1, the ceiling for him is that he impresses enough that they cut Cam Lewis this year and Hancock is the first guy up if there's an injury to Taron Johnson or to one of the starting Safeties. There's almost no chance they're going to take a late 5th Round Pick that is learning multiple playbooks and being split between multiple positions in Training Camp and start them at Safety in Year 1. Especially with how conservative McDermott generally is with Rookies. He and Strong were brought in to replace guys like Lewis and Ingram, improve the depth, evaluate, and develop them for potentially larger roles in Year 2 and beyond. Strong is also definitely an Outside CB in this Defense and is the Double Down insurance to Hairston (like with Benford's 6th Round selection to Elam's 1st in 2022).

You weren't stupid for that. The league hadn't yet exploded into the all out passing league it became and the kind of hero ball, keep a play alive QB play that's made the pocket passer all but extinct. It was true then and it's true now, 99.9% of the time if you're inaccurate in College - it isn't going to improve in the Pro's. Josh is the 0.1%. But he's the exception and not the rule. It's been proven in recent years with the Drafting of guys like Trey Lance and Anthony Richardson that Drafting a QB based solely on size, a big arm, and some tools is practically always going to blow up in your face. Josh is just a unicorn. Even after having Josh Allen, if we're in a situation like 2018 again and the prospects are what they were then - I'd still be against taking the Josh Allen like prospect.

Exactly this. If anyone's a Nickel, it's Hancock. He's set to take over the Cam Lewis floating DB Backup Safety and Nickel role as soon as this season. Also exactly this. If we cut him after Training Camp, we'd save nothing and take on an 8+m Dead Cap hit. With the kind of depth (or lack thereof) at the WR core we have right now and the financials involved, there's really no scenario where Curtis Samuel isn't on the roster.

Yeah, he'd probably make around 50k a year in the CFL as a top CFL Draft Pick. The NFL Practice Squad pays 12.5k a week. So while it's unlikely he makes the 53, if they offer him a Practice Squad spot - he'll more than likely take that over the CFL. On top of the higher pay, you never know when someone might get hurt and that could be your big break. Generally, CFL Draft Picks exhaust all of their NFL options first before reporting.

I was looking up info on some of the Undrafted guys we're bringing to camp. It seemed as though Hayden Harris was one of the top guys we brought in Undrafted. When I was looking into him, I noticed that he was just a top pick in the CFL Draft. Will be interesting to see how he performs in Camp and if he makes the Practice Squad. If nothing else, it looks like he's got a pretty good fallback plan if things don't work out in his NFL Training Camp opportunity.

While I agree it's likely he's cut - I could see a number of ways he could make it: 1.) He blows their socks off in Training Camp and the Pre-Season and they cut bait on Moore 2.) Elijah Moore doesn't impress in the offseason and/or proves to not be a fit in the locker room. 3.) There's an injury to one of the Top 5 presumed guys during the offseason. If 2 or 3 happens, it would most likely come down to him or Shavers - as Shenault to me seems more for Special Teams and Return ability and as such would be kept as a "6th WR" instead of Codrington as a "6th CB". The difference there is a 5th Round Pick is generally expected to be rostered. A late 7th Round pick generally isn't.

He'll be 22 years old come Draft time next season and will have been at Texas for 3 seasons. Given his pedigree, if he performs as expected this season - I don't think another year would improve his stock any and could only set himself up for hurting it with injury and he'd be cutting into his NFL years by a year or two by entering the 2027 Draft at 23. He may opt to stay. But if he plays like a Manning, his stock will be as high as it could be.

The Saints have said that they plan to do a competition between Hough, Rattler, and Haener - https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/kellen-moore-declares-open-qb-competition-among-tyler-shough-jake-haener-spencer-rattler That might be lip service for now. But it might be true. One thing to keep in mind is Arch Manning is coming out in 2026. So teams may be bypassing on getting a QB that would win them some games this year in hopes that they can land him next offseason. The Giants signing Winston, then signing Wilson, then Drafting Dart is kind of an odd situation. As was the Browns trading for Kenny Pickett, signing Joe Flacco, and then Drafting both Gabriel and Sanders. Both seem like situations where the QB situation is nowhere and they're just grabbing up everything they can to throw against a wall and see what sticks this year.