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

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

These RBs have the wrong idea. The best thing they can get is job security. He would Be better off negotiating something reasonable, but long term and with some solid incentives baked in.

 

once You hit the RB free agent carousel, it’s all downhill. He should ask his brother how that went for him.

[Low Positive]

56 minutes ago, Chicken Boo said:

 

That's a problem in itself. 

 

What would Andy Reid have done?

I know you are trying to make a point here, but Andy Reid rotated RBs between Hunt, Pacheco, and Perine all season including in key moments in the AFC CG. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

1 minute ago, DapperCam said:

He’s pretty poor in pass protection and blitz pickup. That’s why Ty Johnson is in on 3rd down and the 2 minute offense (where most of the plays will be passes).

Problem is if you have to pay for a RB1 top dollar and also have to invest in a 3rd down RB then you’re really putting way too much into the position.

 

 

[K D]

Bills could have had Saquon Barkley if they were going to pay a RB. Paying Cook would be a joke. He's half as good and can't even play 3rd down because he can't block

[alg]

May I suggest a James Cook /Von Miller trade for Maxx Crosby?

 

Cook would be their O star, and Miller could fill some pass rush need short term.

 

Edited February 12 by alg

[SCBills]

Ray Davis and LeQuint Allen is sounding pretty good to me right now.

[Einstein's Dog]

8 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

 

I think the Raiders and Browns are the exact type of stupid teams to highly value a young "superstar" RB.

 

A perfect trade chip for getting Maxx or Myles.

 

However ... important to note ... player for player trades are exceedingly rare.

But for Maxx or Myles, J Cook is one piece, the Bills would need to put in picks also.  And in those instances it helps muddy up the evaluation of the trade metrics which can be helpful. 

 

Also with Cook's contract situation the acquiring team would have the advantage of playing all kinds of cap games.  While they would have to pay Cook and give him a big signing bonus/guarantee they could manipulate the cap hit over the years pretty much as they see fit.

 

So a blockbuster trade of M Garrett and  G Newsome trade for the Bills 2025 1st round pick, J Cook, AJ Epenesa, and a 2026 1st (and maybe Elam), may be a good fit for both teams and fanbases.

[CoudyBills]

👋 👋 👋 

[Brand J]

I see Cook’s value as late first, early 2nd round. If he’s traded, we better get another home run hitter with vision in this offense, or it’ll be harder for the Bills to lean on the run game. There were quite a few times Cook got us more on the ground than what was expected.

[FireChans]

5 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

But for Maxx or Myles, J Cook is one piece, the Bills would need to put in picks also.  And in those instances it helps muddy up the evaluation of the trade metrics which can be helpful. 

 

Also with Cook's contract situation the acquiring team would have the advantage of playing all kinds of cap games.  While they would have to pay Cook and give him a big signing bonus/guarantee they could manipulate the cap hit over the years pretty much as they see fit.

 

So a blockbuster trade of M Garrett and  G Newsome trade for the Bills 2025 1st round pick, J Cook, AJ Epenesa, and a 2026 1st (and maybe Elam), may be a good fit for both teams and fanbases.

The Browns trading their HoF pass rusher to give a 2nd tier RB big money is so drought Bills/Browns, it actually has a shot lol.

[TheBeaneBandit]

15 minutes ago, alg said:

May I suggest a James Cook /Von Miller trade for Maxx Crosby?

 

Cook would be their O star, and Miller could fill some pass rush need short term.

 

I'll allow it 👍😆

[Cheektowaga Chad]

26 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

These RBs have the wrong idea. The best thing they can get is job security. He would Be better off negotiating something reasonable, but long term and with some solid incentives baked in.

 

once You hit the RB free agent carousel, it’s all downhill. He should ask his brother how that went for him.

This is how I would do things with rbs, get term and get the contract as near to fully guaranteed as possible 

 

The free agent carousel is too much of a wild card

[JP51]

10 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

I’ll do 12 mil per 

I think that is exactly where it ends up... or he can go to a team with a bad OL and get wrecked...  Love what he can do... but look at his brother... small running backs have a short shelf life of effectiveness... I totally get why he wants to get paid... he is not gonna have a Derek Henry length career... so fill your plate when the buffet is full I get it... but I cant see a 4 year 60mm deal for him here... 

[DapperCam]

I don’t blame Cook for trying to lock in a big money extension now. He just had what will probably be the best season of his career. Gotta strike while the iron is hot.

[Goin Breakdown]

Let him hold out. Don't get me wrong, he's good and all but I'm not hitting refresh on this one everyday until the season starts. 

Edited February 12 by Goin Breakdown

[transplantbillsfan]

As much as I want to say it's too much, I also think it's still in the ballpark.

 

If Brady finds a way to utilize Cook more in the passing game this offseason and turns Cook into the 2025 version of Thurman in the 90s K-Gun locking him up at $12-$13m per year might not be a bad idea.

 

And is that really so far off from $15m?

 

What's good is that if this is his negotiating tactic, we know what he wants. And both parties in negotiations never get exactly what they want.

 

They'll meet in the middle. The question is where is the middle?

[alg]

29 minutes ago, Einstein's Dog said:

But for Maxx or Myles, J Cook is one piece, the Bills would need to put in picks also.  And in those instances it helps muddy up the evaluation of the trade metrics which can be helpful. 

 

Also with Cook's contract situation the acquiring team would have the advantage of playing all kinds of cap games.  While they would have to pay Cook and give him a big signing bonus/guarantee they could manipulate the cap hit over the years pretty much as they see fit.

 

So a blockbuster trade of M Garrett and  G Newsome trade for the Bills 2025 1st round pick, J Cook, AJ Epenesa, and a 2026 1st (and maybe Elam), may be a good fit for both teams and fanbases.

I'm not sure why giving up multiple 1sts for a soon-to-be 30 year old player is every Bills fans wet dream, but that is a disaster waiting to happen. At least with the disastrous Miller contract we didn't have to give up picks.

 

But Maxx Crosby is another story. He's 27 and has exhibited some real Bills love in recent times. And Cook would go farther in satisfying the terms of a deal ... at a position of need.

[BADOLBILZ]

2 minutes ago, alg said:

I'm not sure why giving up multiple 1sts for a soon-to-be 30 year old player is every Bills fans wet dream, but that is a disaster waiting to happen. At least with the disastrous Miller contract we didn't have to give up picks.

 

But Maxx Crosby is another story. He's 27 and has exhibited some real Bills love in recent times. And Cook would go farther in satisfying the terms of a deal ... at a position of need.

 

 

Crosby is entering his age 28 season and Garrett his age 29 season.

 

They are 21 months difference in age not 3 years (your 27 and 30 analogy).

 

Crosby is coming off an injury plagued season and has never been a first team All Pro or serious NFLDPOY contender(highest finish 4th).   Garrett is coming off a NFLDPOY type season......after winning it the season before.......and is a 4 time first team All Pro.  

 

Crosby has been very good, until this season.......but Garrett is clearly the better player by a significant margin.    

 

Garrett's .88 sacks per game career versus Crosby's .63 is a massive disparity. 

[SCBills]

46 minutes ago, Brand J said:

I see Cook’s value as late first, early 2nd round. If he’s traded, we better get another home run hitter with vision in this offense, or it’ll be harder for the Bills to lean on the run game. There were quite a few times Cook got us more on the ground than what was expected.

 

If we can get a 2nd for Cook, I trade him asap after the IG stuff.

 

Getting Pick 30 and 3-2nd Round Picks in this Draft, where DL is loaded through the first two rounds would be massive for us.

 

And while Cook did make plays others in our RB room couldn't, we also leaned on him to do that because teams could play 1 high safety and take away stuff in the middle of the field because we didn't threaten anyone outside with Coleman as a rookie, Hollins and a hobbled Amari Cooper.

[Magox]

I think most of you are off base and the way you are viewing playmaking RB's are outdated.

 

One thing was clear this year, the teams that continued with this outdated way of thinking on playmaking RB's and didn't retain their stars paid the price.

 

Saquon Barkley, the Giants offered less than $12M a year and as a result paid the price.

Josh Jacobs, the Raiders didn't want to pay $12M a year and all he did was end up with 1800 total yards and 16 TD's.

Derrick Henry, Titans fell apart and Ravens had their best offense ever with Henry accumulating over 2100 total yards and 18 TD's.

Joe Mixon, he carried that offense for much of the season, whereas the Bengals had their worst ground game in years.

 

All this because they wanted to save a few million dollars.   Just to put this into context, Gabe Davis signed a contract at $13M a year, more than any of the RB's that I just mentioned.

 

Playmakers at any position should get paid at a premium.  The pendulum swung way too much to undervaluing playmaking RB's and I believe you'll see that trend begin to go to it's medium.  

 

Cook was a playmaker for the Bills, he was explosive, made lots of plays that other RB's could not make and broke lots of long runs.  He was even more impressive around the goal line and showed he has a knack for getting into the endzone.   What about that short goal line run against the Chiefs? Holy!  That was as spectacular of a 1 yard run I've seen in a Bills uniform, only a handful of RB's in the league could have made that play.  Not to mention he's a good receiving back.

 

His $15M a year is a starting point and it's a very reasonable one.  The Bills should absolutely look to get a deal done for him and they probably will settle around the $13M a year mark which is a hell of a deal for a playmaker.   I would be sick to my stomach if he ended up going to another team after this season.