If you could get a day 2 pick for Cook would you pull the trigger…

[Eastport bills]

Why would you give up on a tremendous talent so soon? Didn’t he show enough last season to get fans excited with his talent both running the ball and catching it out of the backfield? He’s a matchup nightmare against safeties and lbs. He’s had some dropsies but I’m confident they’ll fix that. You need two quality backs to compete at a high level. Davis looked great against preseason camp fodder. Can he play a real game before trading a guy that’s producing. 

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, SirAndrew said:

The amount of yes answers is ridiculous. Cook might not be a superstar, but he contributes to this team. He’s an important part of this offense, like it or not. A day two draft choice might not even be a starter. Apparently many of us want another corner or defensive lineman. 

 

And he is on a rookie deal. 

 

As I said above, it is worth a question after this season if going into his contract year they know they don't want to extend him. If they end up there and someone offers you a day 2 pick you absolutely do it. But for now you are giving away a very productive, very cheap running back for no good reason. 

[Mr. WEO]

trade 25% of last years Offense for what, a future Boogie Basham or Cody Ford or Torrence?  So that a 4th round rookie can be the feature back?

[Sweats]

We're not re-signing Cook once he's off his rookie deal and i'm fairly certain Davis was brought in as his replacement, so i'm all for a 2nd if it's ever offered, which it isn't and won't be, so........

[JerseyBills]

Guys, he was 3rd in scrimmage yards for RBs last year, very nearly 2nd.  

[Jimmy Harris 69]

1 hour ago, machine gun kelly said:

 

why do people want to trade every decent player we have as a draft pic idea.

This

[BarleyNY]

Immediately and without hesitation. But there’s no way another team would offer that. 

[colin]

we have injuries and lost people on D, we have the goat of all time at qb, being able to posses the ball and extend drives, while also being productive is the key for us winning, especially in the playoffs.

 

cook gives us elite production right now.  diggs and davis gave us trash production in the playoffs and end of the year the last two years, IMO that is why they are gone.  

 

I say you keep production and emphasize it, so this season no i would not trade cook.  i think he can flirt w 2k yards from scrimmage this year.  I view touchdowns as a team stat more than an individual player state, and we score a lot of touchdowns, so even factoring in cook's bad results dropping sure fire td passes (i do expect that to improve) he's one of our best producers.

 

if we can be a very solid run team, like 125-150 a game, allen can put us over the top to be a top 3 O with like 30-40 attempts a game.  cook is a big part of both of those.

 

the jury is out if we will be in super bowl contention again this season, but the plan seems in place.  we have bigger stronger passing targets (hollis and FSU rookie can bash bodies around blocking, and we have two starting quality TEs) we are 2-3 deep at rb, our qb is a turbo truck in human form when running the ball, and our o line can mash people around (although we have not been strong at all in short yardage blocking).  being able to pass vs run ds, run vs passing ds, passing to backs, and being able to do all of it out of multiple formations is the corner stone of the EP offense.  I think we have that as much as we have since we got allen, so if it ain't broke don't break it.

 

if our back 7 can hold strong, and we get improved pass rush from von, groot, aj, etc, then we can absolutely be a top 5 d as well.  the key, quite obviously, is the d holding up vs elite qbs in the post season.  balance on O goes a good way towards helping that, but keeping the opponents o off the field, allowing us to dictate pace at various points of the game (the bills are elite in end of half scoring), and wearing out opponents, which imo is as much about breaking down the opponents d physically as it about mentally wearing them out.  the old adage of "here comes tom brady again, another game winning drive" was in large part because the pats could set up great play action, chew up the middle of the field running and passing, and putting themselves in positions to score.  that's who we are set up to be.

[BuffaloRebound]

No way.  Davis looks good, but he doesn’t have Cooks speed.  As much as the fumbles and drops are annoying, his speed has to be accounted for by defenses.  

[Ethan in Cleveland]

45 minutes ago, JerseyBills said:

Guys, he was 3rd in scrimmage yards for RBs last year, very nearly 2nd.  

Facts don't matter in this board

1 minute ago, BuffaloRebound said:

No way.  Davis looks good, but he doesn’t have Cooks speed.  As much as the fumbles and drops are annoying, his speed has to be accounted for by defenses.  

Wasn't Davis fumbling in training camp too?

[Augie]

11 hours ago, julian said:

After seeing what we’ve seen from Davis, if a team suffered a rb1 injury and called offering a day 2 pick would you do it ?

 

 I think I do it, he’s not getting a 2nd contract and you might be better with Davis at rb1, Ty Johnson looks like he’s a capable #2.

 

What if that team is the Bills. Trading Cook creates a hole that needs to be filled. We used a draft pick on a guy who was one of the top producers in the league last season. Not perfect, but pretty darn good. Why take the chance by going thin at RB with the hopes that the next guy we pick can be as good as the guy we just got rid of. 

 

Keep drafting and using up RB’s on rookie deals. 

[GASabresIUFan]

Here is the best news. There is no way on G-d’s green earth that our very competent GM is going to trade his Pro Bowl RB on a rookie deal two weeks before the season for a draft pick.  
 

I know facts don’t matter here, but…..

 

Cook was 3rd in yards from scrimmage last year.  He was 8th in total yards receiving by RB’s but his 10.1 yards per catch was the best of the top receivers.  He caught over 80% of his targets and this was on par with guys like B. Hall, McCaffery, Etienne, and better than others like Bijon Robinson.  His 4 receiving TDs was 3rd to McCaffery and Ford.  

Cook was 4th in rushing yards and his 4.7 yards per carry was 4th highest among 1000 yard rushers.  
 

 

 

[Dillenger4]

NO!! We keep Cook. With him, Davis and Ty we have an awesome RB tandem. This will be special.

[skibum]

Today, probably not. But ask me again in about 6 weeks.

[notpolian]

Amusing topic, props for that.  I'm not a Cook fan but I would not trade him.  On a rookie deal he is worth far more to the team than off it.  If he can improve some tendencies he is a good back.  Next offseason we'll know more.  

 

On a related note I would never draft a running back in any round.  They are a dime a dozen and wear out very quickly.

[gonzo1105]

Running backs drop like flies so my answer would be no as of right now 

[Billl]

44 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Here is the best news. There is no way on G-d’s green earth that our very competent GM is going to trade his Pro Bowl RB on a rookie deal two weeks before the season for a draft pick.  
 

I know facts don’t matter here, but…..

 

Cook was 3rd in yards from scrimmage last year.  He was 8th in total yards receiving by RB’s but his 10.1 yards per catch was the best of the top receivers.  He caught over 80% of his targets and this was on par with guys like B. Hall, McCaffery, Etienne, and better than others like Bijon Robinson.  His 4 receiving TDs was 3rd to McCaffery and Ford.  

Cook was 4th in rushing yards and his 4.7 yards per carry was 4th highest among 1000 yard rushers.  
 

 

 

You can massage the stats any number of ways, but the reality is that he’s a pretty good back who got a lot of yards between the 20s.  He also had more fumbles and fewer TDs than any other player who was in the top 20 of yards per scrimmage.  None of that really matters though.  The biggest reason he was so high on the list for RBs is that very few teams give their backs that many touches anymore.

 

20 years ago, he’d have been middle of the pack amongst RBs with that yardage total.  That he was as high on the list last year is as much a feature of his touches relative to the rest of the league as anything else.  He’s got one year left before he’s going to want an extension.  If there was a team desperate enough to offer a day 2 pick for him, you take it and run.  There were no RBs taken in the first round of this year’s draft and only 4 taken on day 2.  Cook’s good, but he’s not elite.  Good RBs are easily replaceable.

[GunnerBill]

16 minutes ago, Billl said:

You can massage the stats any number of ways, but the reality is that he’s a pretty good back who got a lot of yards between the 20s.  He also had more fumbles and fewer TDs than any other player who was in the top 20 of yards per scrimmage.  None of that really matters though.  The biggest reason he was so high on the list for RBs is that very few teams give their backs that many touches anymore.

 

20 years ago, he’d have been middle of the pack amongst RBs with that yardage total.  That he was as high on the list last year is as much a feature of his touches relative to the rest of the league as anything else.  He’s got one year left before he’s going to want an extension.  If there was a team desperate enough to offer a day 2 pick for him, you take it and run.  There were no RBs taken in the first round of this year’s draft and only 4 taken on day 2.  Cook’s good, but he’s not elite.  Good RBs are easily replaceable.

 

But not when you have a good (not elite) back at a cheap rookie contract number for another two years. Because you are not replacing James Cook with a street FA. If he wants an extension after next year and then someone wants to throw you a pick for him, sure, I see the sense. But drafting a back in round 2 (was too rich for my tastes to start with even though I like James Cook) seeing them put up excellent AP yardage numbers in year two and then selling two prospective years worth of cheap production for a day 2 pick makes little sense to me. The reason you collect draft picks is to get good players on rookie contracts who are capable of out producing them. That is what they have on Cook. So until the contract situation becomes live you don't trade that away just for another chance to find a guy that might not do that. 

[QCity]

34 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

But not when you have a good (not elite) back at a cheap rookie contract number for another two years. Because you are not replacing James Cook with a street FA. If he wants an extension after next year and then someone wants to throw you a pick for him, sure, I see the sense. But drafting a back in round 2 (was too rich for my tastes to start with even though I like James Cook) seeing them put up excellent AP yardage numbers in year two and then selling two prospective years worth of cheap production for a day 2 pick makes little sense to me. The reason you collect draft picks is to get good players on rookie contracts who are capable of out producing them. That is what they have on Cook. So until the contract situation becomes live you don't trade that away just for another chance to find a guy that might not do that. 

 

The contract situation will likely become live after this season. It's naïve to think Cook will quietly play out his contract and then patiently wait for a new one. History has shown that RB's holdout 1-2 years before their contract expires in order to force the team's hand (yet another reason not to draft RBs in the 1st round). I don't think the majority of Bills fans are familiar with this since we haven't had a young RB put up stats in the past decade.

 

I'm certainly not saying to get rid of him because of this, but it is a factor that GM's weigh.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

13 hours ago, julian said:

After seeing what we’ve seen from Davis, if a team suffered a rb1 injury and called offering a day 2 pick would you do it ?

 

 I think I do it, he’s not getting a 2nd contract and you might be better with Davis at rb1, Ty Johnson looks like he’s a capable #2.

 

No, because depth is important and its punting a player for someone you won't get until next season.