Cook getting the paid in a few weeks? Only the Bills can do so as Cook has another year left.

[Richard Noggin]

Does Cook report to camp next season and play out his 4th year without an extension? His brother threatened and grumbled but did report in year 4, had a career year, and did get paid. But, he never matched that 4th year production and only played 2 solid seasons of his 5-year extension before being released. 

[Sierra Foothills]

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/contracts/_/position/rb/sort/start_year/dir/desc

 

Some of the RBs who signed new contracts in 2024:

 

Name	Years	Average	Total Guaranted
Josh Jacobs	4	$12 million	$12 million
Christian McCaffrey	2	$19 million	$24 million
Saquon Barkley	3	$12.6 million	$26 million
Ramondre Stevenson	4	$9 million	$17 million
Chuba Hubbard	4	$8.3 million	$16.5 million
Joe Mixon	3	$8.5 million	$16 million
Alvin Kamara	2	$12.25 million	$19.2 million
DeAndre Swift	3	$8 million	$15.3 million
Tony Pollard	3	$7.25 million	$10.5 million
James Connor	2	$9.5 million	$8.25 million
David Montgomery	2	$9.125 million	$10.5 million

 

Also Derrick Henry: 2 years, $8 million average, total guaranteed $9 million

 

If you click on the link, the columns are sortable.

 

 

Edited Friday at 06:05 AM by Sierra Foothills

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, Sojourner said:

I don’t disagree but I do feel those 3 would easily put up 1100 yards, 40 receptions and 400 receiving yards in todays game.

 

Lynch>Henry>Cook>McGahee
 

Henry had his best year as a receiver in tandem with his rushing high, 2002.

 

Marshawn would easily thrive. He’s not far removed. That dude was no slouch as a receiver. Especially during that 3 year prime Seattle had during their NFCC and back to back super bowls. 
 

Now while I don’t think they’d excell as much in the passing game as cook, you give them 6 man fronts like Cook and the guys see regularly because of Josh? Those guys would eat. Handsomely too. 
 

Again, I like cook. A lot. But having Josh in comparison to Bledsoe/Van Pelt/Johnson/Losman/Edwards that the others had is rough. 
 

Literal difference between night and day. 

 

 

Honestly I don't really remember Henry as a Bill. It was my early days as a fan and in an era when if you were abroad you couldn't just stream every game. So I don't have a strong view on him. I'd take Cook before McGahee. Lynch could play in any era but the point stands the running back position has changed and the old style volume guys who could take a pounding and deliver 4 yards flat per carry are of very limited value now.

[gonzo1105]

The thing the Bills will have to ask themselves and the league to be honest is…is James Cook an elite back or is he just an elite back because he’s in the Bills system with Josh Allen? 
 

If you think he’s just elite you gladly pay the 10-12 million a season. 
 

If you think his elite level of play is tied into this system then maybe you offer less in the 7-8 range. 
 

Someone will offer him big money from a bad team but then will he be asked to be a different guy. Sometimes these guys flop and you see them back on your roster in 2-3 years 

[BillsfaninSB]

Wish they could just tag him.  Isn’t that the formula. 
 

Draft a RB on day 2.

 

Play said RB.

 

If he is good then tag him.

 

Draft a RB on day 2.

 

 

[Doc Brown]

The right move is often the hardest.  Let him play out his contract next year and move on.  Maybe get a comp pick for him.

[Aussie Joe]

2 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

Does Cook report to camp next season and play out his 4th year without an extension? His brother threatened and grumbled but did report in year 4, had a career year, and did get paid. But, he never matched that 4th year production and only played 2 solid seasons of his 5-year extension before being released

 
So … you are saying he will play his 4th year then ? 

Makes sense  

[dma0034]

This is tough for me. Part of what this year showed is good RBs in bad situations can become elite in great situations. Yes Cook has been good but how much better than Ty Johnson? I think with Brady and this O-Line (and teams worried about Allen) any RB would have good numbers. Last year Gus Edwards had a 800 yard 13 TD year with the Ravens and then they got a true elite RB and now look at them. I think Cook is good but I don't know if he's even 8 million a year a good. This isn't a situation where I think it would be a mistake to pay him (like I thought with Knox) but I think you can find a RB cheaper that will give you similar production

[LEBills]

I’d pay him similar to what Saquon got this off season. Cook is very efficient with his touches averaging 5 ypc for his career. He is also just good enough as a receiver to keep the offense multidimensional when he is on the field.

 

He is a bit like Aaron Jones who has been a good back his entire career and has been effective in his year 29 season. Paying him a 4 year contract I think would be good. 

 

Additionally, if we are going to make a Super Bowl run this year, it will be on the backs of Josh and Cook - our two best offensive skill players

 

As for the tweet, Dalvins trying to tweet it into existence. Doubt the Bills have approached Cook at all in season about an extension. 

Edited Friday at 11:00 AM by LEBills

[CNYfan]

7 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

 

 

But what do you make of him saying "Just keep doing what your doing and let the bag in a few weeks speak for itself."

 

Super Bowl winner's cut.  

[No_Matter_What]

11 hours ago, BeastMaster said:

I have also been a supporter of not paying RB's, but a true top flight RB should at least be made a fair offer to retain

 

Cook is on the cusp of potentially being one of those backs IMO. His smoothness as a runner is a thing of beauty, and he is also a very good pass catcher and appears to have fixed his ball security issues

 

I would make him a fair offer. If he decides he wants to go somewhere else cause a team wants to pay a hefty price for him, then I let him walk and take the compensatory pick to draft another RB

This is where I am at. I am normally in don't draft RBs high don't pay RBs camp, but Cook is really really good, like top 8 NFL or so good.

 

So I'd make an offer. Question is what a fair offer is. I think based on the numbers @Sierra Foothills posted below he'd get about 36/3 on the open market, and that seems too much to me. I'd immediately sign him for 24/3.

 

Another thing that bothers me is that I'd probably keep Shakir for 15-16/y (I guess he'll get more). And that makes me think - is Shakir really that much valuable? Don't know.

Edited Friday at 02:35 PM by No_Matter_What

[HOUSE]

I like James Cook but Brandon Beane will never pay big for a RB.

NEXT UP FOR BILLS- Ray Davis

NEXT UP FOR COOK, CLEVELAND or CHICAGO 

They overspend for everything. 

 

.

Edited Friday at 12:16 PM by HOUSE

[aristocrat]

We have to ask who we replace him with? We have a bunch of holes on the d. Beane chased that rb for years with singletary and moss.   We nailed this pick and need to use the next couple drafts to fix the d, get a wr etc. I do hate the idea of paying rbs but he's a huge part of this offense and takes a lot of stress of josh. 

[H2o]

I think we will see him get $10M-$12M per year from Buffalo. Probably 4 years $44M w/ $32M gtd. He is a VERY productive back who gets limited touches compared to the other top RB's in this league. 

[chongli]

The thread title should be changed to something more pertinent to the OP, like "Dalvin Cook's cryptic tweet about James getting paid".

[GunnerBill]

I still lean towards you don't pay him. I doubt he'd hold out the whole season. Since Lev Bell as a cautionary tale running backs tend not to go that way. It might mean he doesn't show up in the spring, possibly he misses the start of camp even, but I think he will play next year. 

 

The one thing I'd say is at the start of the year my order was Benford, Rousseau, Bernard, Shakir, Cook. I think I might have moved Bernard down to the bottom of that list. He's fine. He is a decent starting middle linebacker. But he has come back to earth a bit from last year. 

Edited Friday at 12:25 PM by GunnerBill

[Magox]

I was in the camp of not being extending Cook simply for the fact that there are a lot of good players we need to bring back but my thought has changed.  Cook is showing himself to not just be a good back but a dynamic playmaking one and playmakers come at a premium.

 

The pay trend had been to not pay RB’s but the pendulum swung too much against paying RB’s and that trend this past year had finally broken, albeit at a modest level.   They are still relatively underpaid and teams that decided to let their RB’s walk paid the price this year, (Saquon, Henry, Mixon and Jacobs).

 

RB’s will begin to start getting paid higher compensation than what we had seen in the recent past and if we can get Cook at around $10-$12m a year then I’d be all over it.  
 

The cap will continue to rise nicely over the next few years with all the new streaming deals and record viewership and there are guys that we will be able to not count that much against the cap two years from now (Miller, Samuels, Daquan, Knox not to mention Diggs).

 

I don’t think the Bills need to make any splash moves in FA, just retain the guys you drafted that you believe in and continue to draft well.   The Bills have the luxury of lots of premium draft picks to continue to build this team.  

[Gregg]

He is our second-best player on offense and is becoming an elite level RB. He has taken a lot of pressure off Allen with his everything he does. Definitely want to see the Bills sign him to a nice deal.

[extrahammer]

 

 

10 hours ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

He seems he is worth $8M a year to me.  Maybe as high as $9M.

 

He's making $1.5M per year now, I'd say an increase of 6x to $7M-$8M in this offense is doable and fair for all sides. Our system isn't built for much more than that at the RB spot. 

[Beast]

You can’t blame any talented running back that wants to get paid as soon as possible. The NFL has chewed these guys up and spit them out with the exception of a select few.

Edited Friday at 12:55 PM by Beast