James Cook on IG Live - "15 mill year" EDIT: Scrubbed his IG and Doubled Down on Twitter

[cd1]

He is a great player but he is acting like another DIVA. 

 

This may not be a path the Bills want to go down. I don't.

 

Too bad!

Edited Sunday at 07:16 PM by cd1

[UKBillFan]

1 hour ago, Chicken Boo said:

 

What's crazy money?  

 

He deserves and is worth a considerable amount more than Dawson Knox.

 

Yup.  That same dude who won a Super Bowl and enjoyed a lengthy Hall of Fame career away from Buffalo.    

 

There's no point throwing good money after bad. Knox's contract is excessive and it shouldn't be used as a base for others.

[Ya Digg?]

1 hour ago, Just in Atlanta said:

I don’t have an opinion on Brown. All I know is his antics and tactics to me at least are tacky. Not professional. And it will be a distraction for this team.

 

 

If this is a distraction to the team that’s more in the other players, has very little to nothing to do with Cook.

 

He’s not a diva, he’s not a distraction, this is a tactic used by a lot of guys in the league to get paid. 
 

For such a large group of supposedly rugged and tough guys, guys who want things to be like the “olden days” y’all get so worked up over instagram posts and jersey combos 

[jahnyc]

Need to hear from Beane about all this and see what the FO approach will be (i.e., if the Bills are willing, beginning in March, to negotiate a new deal for Cook).  I don't think Cook will have strong trade value for the Bills given his salary demands and how RBs are currently valued.

 

If the Bills try to negotiate or enter into an extension with Cook, it will be interesting to see how that impacts the approaches taken by Shakir, Benford and Bernard with their contract situations since they are similarly situated to Cook (free agents a year from now unless extended or tagged).  If Cook gets an extension by being the squeaky wheel, why wouldn't they do the same, particularly since they have received less money than Cook over their first three years because they were drafted in lower rounds.

Edited February 15 by jahnyc

[nosejob]

3 hours ago, UKBillFan said:

 

I suppose it's only a power if are on the player's side. If it leaks that the Bills are offering Josh an extension below market value, the fans will round on Beane. In this case, with the amount requested seeming slightly excessive after one strong year - particularly considering how large RB contracts have hurt the Colts and the Niners due to injury - then instead it gives the Bills more flexibility in the fans eyes. If Beane trades then the majority, albeit, if understand even if they don't like it.

 

If the Bills look to move on, which teams will offer Cook $15m? I'm sure there will be some out there. Think someone mentioned Dallas earlier in the thread.

Cook to the Giants for Dexter...and 1 less high pick.

[Chicken Boo]

24 minutes ago, UKBillFan said:

 

There's no point throwing good money after bad. Knox's contract is excessive and it shouldn't be used as a base for others.

 

For RBs, the non-exclusive franchise tag in 2024 was $11.9M.

[sven233]

I made my position clear earlier in this thread that I am not paying a RB $15 mill a year, especially when Josh Allen is your QB, but I didn't really mention what I would do instead.  I truly believe a lot of RBs can be successful in our offense when you have Allen and the offensive line that we do.  That isn't intended to be a shot at Cook because I do really like the play but, I mean, it was kind of made somewhat apparent this season when Davis and Johnson came on the field.  There was not a huge drop off from Cook to Davis (a rookie by the way).  And, we all saw what Ty Johnson did this season with the snaps he got. He made so many big, impact plays for us not only in closing out games running the football, but making huge catches down the field as well.  So, while Cook may be a more physically gifted player than these guys, is the difference really worth $15 million?  No.

 

So, here's what I'm doing.  The first thing I am doing is seeing if there is any team that is interested in taking Cook as part of a trade package for another impact player at a different position.  If so, great.  That is the best case scenario. Regardless, I am drafting the fastest, most athletic RB out there in the 3rd-4th round (depending on where our picks end up after whatever trades are made this offseason), and running Davis as my lead back with Johnson being brought back to get plenty of snaps as well with the rookie getting a taste here and there like Davis got this season.  Then, the following season, you have Davis and this rookie coming back with a year under his belt to carry the load.  If Cook can't be traded, then just run it back this season and say goodbye to Cook at the end of the year. You can still draft someone if you want to, but I am only looking for an athletic back with upside.

 

I'd much rather take the money you can save by not signing Cook and investing into the WR position.  Play to your strength which is obviously Allen and get him some real weapons.  We legit have 1 WR on this team that is good.  Shakir.....and he's a slot guy.  Coleman's ceiling is very low in my opinion and Samuel has battled injuries.  Hollins is a nice depth piece to have, but he isn't on this team right now and, while I do expect they would like him back, he's still not a guy that I want starting on the outside.  We need 2 legit WRs with speed, explosion, and separation ability on the outside.  $15 million may not solve those issues, but it can't hurt to have it depending on what your plan is there.  Obviously it would probably be tough to fill both spots in FA, but maybe you get a proven guy there and use another high draft pick on a fast, athletic freak that you hope develops into something down the road, although that has never been the type of WR Beane has gravitated towards.  Brown is the fastest WR Beane has brought in, but since then, he hasn't put anyone with real speed on the field with Allen to stretch defenses regularly so Allen can work the intermediate parts of the field where he's at his best.

 

All this isn't even to mention the holes on defense.  It's one thing to want to upgrade the WR position, but we all know about the glaring holes on defense.  And if Cook can be used as a piece to get a premiere defensive lineman, you have to do it.  We all know we need a DE, but we also need to get an elite 1-tech in here that can stuff the run.  So, between the money you can save by not signing Cook, and the possible talent you could acquire by using him as a trade asset, it just makes the most sense to me to part with him now if possible, especially when you believe in the talent behind him.

[BADOLBILZ]

4 hours ago, Billzgobowlin said:

I'm not sure the data supports that age.  Maybe 28-30 but not 26

 

 

Well if you read the brief article I provided which illustrates said data.......then it should be fairly obvious that if you doubt the information you should provide your own.  

 

[YoloinOhio]

Unfollowed the Bills on IG and changed his profile pic oh nooo I wonder if they’re still gonna go to prom together like seriously wake me up in September please 

[BADOLBILZ]

6 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

Gross stats don’t tell the story of effectiveness. They tell someone how often you did something. Tony Pollard had 260/1079/5? You’re saying that’s better? What about Connor at 236/1094/8? Mixon at 245/1016/11? Najee at 263/1043/6? This isn’t 1994 anymore (or even a decade ago). Advanced stats and efficiency stats are infinitely more important than gross stats. You know that. That’s how players are judged in 2025. That’s how you end up with Lamar’s 2023 MVP season (while receiving 49 of 50 votes). Teams care WAY more about EPA than they do about rushing yards. They care about “how did you do when you got the ball?” That’s why analytics departments and people are all over the league. They’re measuring the effectiveness of each player on each play.

 

You are making the effiency point with your Ty Johnson illustration. This was Johnson’s 6th year. It was his 4th fewest touches and he produced his 2nd most scrimmage yards on that. He made $1.3M this year. You can expect that number to double next year. It isn’t because of how many total yards or touches he had!! It’s because of how impactful those touches were, as you so eloquently laid out. 

 

 

Oh I agree with the concept that you ABSOLUTELY want more efficiency per play over bulk mediocrity.   I absolutely don't want a Najee Harris eating up touches inefficiently.  

 

That's why you split up the job between 3 non-"bell cow" types like Cook, Davis and Johnson.

 

For all Ty Johnson does, including playing ST's and pass blocking efficiently, if Cook is worth $15M on 485 snaps then how is Johnson only worth $2.5M on 429 snaps(over 300 on offense)?   Both are remarkably efficient at what they do........but Johnson a bit more, fwiw.   It can't be both ways........Cook can't be worth 6x more using your rationale.

 

[nosejob]

People forget we have Frank Gore jr. who I thought looked good last summer.

[LabattBlue]

Just now, nosejob said:

People forget we have Frank Gore jr. who I thought looked good last summer.

A lot of guys are warriors in July & August.  Doesn’t mean a heck of a lot in most cases. 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

That dude who signed a contract then wanted more money?

I see fans are still picking the team over the player. 
 

So glad the Bills stuck to their morals and didn’t have an answer at LT for 8-years. 
 

🤦‍♂️

 

But that’s who we were - a bad team - that gave away their best players to the smart teams. 

[BarleyNY]

On 2/14/2025 at 10:37 AM, Straight Hucklebuck said:

I guess the Bills should hold firm if their limit is $12.5M and not $15M, but that's pretty silly to lose Cook over $2.5M a year. 

 

$15M is not so outrageous of a number. 

 

 

I disagree. $15M AAV is outrageous. And what if their limit is $10M AAV? Or $11M? That seems the more appropriate range to me - as I outlined in detail in this thread. And even $11M is a stretch IMO. Nothing exists in a vacuum. If Cook gets a 50% premium, then why shouldn’t other players? And why shouldn’t that extra 4 or 5 million a year go toward keeping or adding another impactful player?

As others have said, this hasn’t become a problem (yet). If he needs to play out his deal and test free agency next year, then so be it. Or if we get there and the Bills want to tag him, that works for me. Heck, sign him to an extension that’s backloaded so he can tout it even though he won’t see the real money. But handing him a contract that pays him anything close to $15M AAV would be a huge mistake. 

[dayman]

RBs are the most replaceable position and they break down quick. It’s nothing personal. There’s a reason the market is as it is for RBs.

[BuffBillsForLife]

Even though I'm loathe to extend RBs, I would have been fine with an extension for 8-9m/yr.  15?  See you on the other side, brother.

[Ya Digg?]

36 minutes ago, nosejob said:

People forget we have Frank Gore jr. who I thought looked good last summer.

I think you actually just increased Cook’s value with this statement 

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, Chicken Boo said:

 

Yup.  That same dude who won a Super Bowl and enjoyed a lengthy Hall of Fame career away from Buffalo.    

 

After committing to Buffalo then reneging on his deal. Even when the Bills gave a UDFA a shot  Yeah, I heard of him.

Edited February 15 by PromoTheRobot

[JimmyNoodles]

Cook's production from the 2023 season to the 2024 season is basically the same...except for scoring.  He had a terrific year last year in that regard, up from 6 in 2023 to 18TDs in 2024.  Is this the new norm?  Are we expecting 15 TDs a year from Cook?  The likelihood that this past year is a career year for him in that regard seems greater to me than this is the new norm.  Maybe he has one more year close to this?  If Cook were maxxed out as a player, I would see him in the Alvin Kamara mold.  If Cook was hauling in 60+ receptions a year in addition to his rushing production, his case would be a lot stronger.  As it is, with his usage, 10m a year seems generous.       

[Straight Hucklebuck]

This conversation sounds like we were teleported back to 2008 and we discussed how no player was worth it.

 

If I really thought this team was going to make a run a Myles Garrett or Maxx Crosby or a real #1 WR and they used Cook as a chip, then that would be different.

 

I don’t expect that. I think McDermott and Beane are firmly in the run it back camp.

 

And fans don’t want to use a premium asset to replace Cook either, which really just leaves you with a weakened offense and Allen having to do even more. 
 

I mean we’re worried about 25-26 year old Cook getting hurt but not 27-28 year old Ty Johnson who has never been counted on as a #1 or Ray Davis who is the same 25-26 years old as Cook? 
 

In a league where the floor for contracts is reset every year. 
 

Dak was outrageous asking for $30M. Now he makes $60M.