BillsFanForever19

He's a die hard Dallas Cowboys fan. So "Go Josh Allen" was as far as he was willing to go. Still cool that he likes Josh enough to do something like that.

If you're talking as far as deleting a contract, to me, it's Bernard. He was easily the last of the big 5 to extend in my opinion, even knowing that retaining all 5 was unlikely. He had a very good 2023 but took a noticeable step back in 2024. He seemed to always be out of position. The middle of the field was constantly open in the passing game and for deep runs beyond the line of scrimmage. In 2023, he was popping off the screen quite a bit. In 2024, he was barely noticeable. On top of that, he's shown a penchant for getting dinged up fairly frequently. It's often said that the premium positions in Football are QB, WR, LT, DE, and CB. MLB, like RB, isn't one of those positions. It's also not the kind of position that requires a ton of money or a premium Draft resource to replace. And when it comes down to who the bigger playmaker at their non premium position is and who had more of an impact on victory for us last season, it's easily Cook. From what I saw from Bernard in 2024, I would have waited on paying him this offseason. I wouldn't have been closed off to the idea of paying him in 2026, depending on how he looked this year. But I wouldn't have paid him now as we did.

Is that Cook's asking price? Just bc his brother shot out a tweet doesn't make that his official price. He knows and James knows, he's probably not getting that. But throw out 20 and 15 looks like a compromise.

That may be. But again, there is likely other teams that will take less pass protection from the RB position for another playmaker on the field. This idea that you absolutely can't have him on the field on 3rd Downs bc that's what the Bills do isn't accurate. Not every team stresses as much on blocking players as we do. Not every team runs the same offensive scheme. Also, I don't think not being a good pass blocker is an equivalent to being 31 going on 32 with recurring foot issues when it comes to negatively effecting money. The latter definitely outweighs the former.

The Week 7 Bye works really well with our suspensions. Gives Hoecht and Ogunjobi multiple weeks to get ready.

Yes, but Barkley is a 21m per year RB. Henry is only at 15m per because he'll be 32 by the end of this season and has had recurring foot problems. If he had Cook's clean bill of health, tread left on the tires, and was 25 years old - he'd surpass Barkley's 21m per year. Of course he's not 21m. But he's not asking for that. This idea that he's a definitively a 2 Down RB to every team in the NFL and that he's not worth 15m bc Henry is a better RB is severely flawed. It assumes every team in the NFL views and utilizes all players the same way and ignores the effect of Henry's age and wear and tear on his contract value.

You act as if we've lost a ton since last season and are starting Rookies across the board to replace big time contributors. The reality is we're relying on Bosa (as well as Hoecht and Ogunjobi after Week 6) and Rookies to provide more than Von Miller, Rasul Douglas, Dawuane Smoot, Austin Johnson, Quinton Jefferson, and Jordan Phillips. That's who we lost and that's who they're replacing. Considering the performance of those players last season, that's not a big ask and the talent level is much higher with the replacements.

He's not used as a 3 down back *here*. That doesn't mean every team in the NFL will play him the same way. Every talking head and most fans of other NFL teams alike posed the question multiple times all year "why did they take Cook off the field"? Specifically after we lost to the Chiefs. Even as a Bills fan, i've often questioned taking our best offensive weapon off the field for a better blocker. Not every team in the league is going to value pass pro from their RB as much as we do. There will be teams that will take less in pass pro to put another weapon on the field. Or teams that will put him on the field in favor of another weapon and put an added blocker in their place. Just because he's used as a 2 Down Back here doesn't mean he's definitively a 2 Down Back for every team in the NFL and will be paid as a 2 Down Back by every team in the NFL. Every year we see players sign on to new teams with an increased role from how their previous team viewed them and are paid more for it. Take Josh Palmer this year with us for example.

Performance to date isn't the only thing that matters when it comes to contract. Often times, it's not even the most important thing. Age, injury history, and envisioned increased role from signing team from original team (ie there will be teams that view Cook as a 3 Down Back) play into money just as much and more all things considered. If Henry were Cook's age and had Cook's clean bill of health, he'd be surpassing Barkley's price of 21m per. I've said it once, i'll say it a million times. it's fair to say you personally wouldn't pay a RB what Cook is going to get in the open market. But it's ridiculous for people to simply point at one thing or another in a vacuum to argue he's worth less. If many of you get your wish and he ends up signing elsewhere, it's not going to be anywhere near what some of you argue his market value is.

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.