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

[H2o]

On 3/24/2025 at 8:21 PM, Einstein's Dog said:

The problem is Cook may not let himself be run into the ground.  He might not play the first 11 games. 

 

And after that, game 12, you would probably be leery of his motivation and he wouldn't be starting anymore.

Yeah, the Bills aren't going for that. If he starts a holdout that even keeps him out for TC and most of the Preseason, I think he's gone. They'll take whatever they can get for him at that point and send him packing. They will not allow a RB to become a distraction. We got rid of a WR last year who was a constant thorn, one that all of the outside heads said this offense couldn't make it without, then JA17 wins MVP. Cook will be treated the same if he becomes a problem as well. 

[Einstein's Dog]

42 minutes ago, H2o said:

Yeah, the Bills aren't going for that. If he starts a holdout that even keeps him out for TC and most of the Preseason, I think he's gone. They'll take whatever they can get for him at that point and send him packing. They will not allow a RB to become a distraction. We got rid of a WR last year who was a constant thorn, one that all of the outside heads said this offense couldn't make it without, then JA17 wins MVP. Cook will be treated the same if he becomes a problem as well. 

Gone for what at that point?  After TC most teams will have their RB rooms figured out, moving an RB that wants to be a 3 down back and get paid, won't be easy. 

 

I personally can see the FO realizing this is a problem now and moving him either prior or during the draft.  That way the Bills could draft a replacement, an RB room of R Davis, Ty, and the good rookie would work for me.  It would be unfortunate though because I think Cook is really good.

 

 

 

 

[BillsFanForever19]

9 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Cook is fortunate that I’m not Beane, I would IR him for the season if he doesn’t show up at camp on time, lol, 

 

If that's honestly what you'd do, we're ALL fortunate you're not Beane.

Edited Thursday at 11:40 PM by BillsFanForever19

[Mat68]

I think Cook is more special than being given credit for.  Im Beane I still work with both Benford and Cook through out the post season.  I would shelve both until after the draft.  And after that start of camp if nothing can come to fruition.  Buffalo holds the cards but also wants to draft develop and retain.

[MasterStrategist]

1 hour ago, Mat68 said:

I think Cook is more special than being given credit for.  Im Beane I still work with both Benford and Cook through out the post season.  I would shelve both until after the draft.  And after that start of camp if nothing can come to fruition.  Buffalo holds the cards but also wants to draft develop and retain.

Ppl more upset about his socials than anything.

 

Rbs who are very good to elite, are getting paid.  Cook is in that very good category, for his elite acceleration alone.  If he leaves Buffalo someday, some team will utilize him all 3 downs more consistently.  He's a weapon in the pass game, more ways to chip/protect than always using your RB.  H9nestly, Ty wasn't asked to block much LY on his 3rd down appearances.  He was out in routes 90%+

[Einstein's Dog]

4 hours ago, MasterStrategist said:

Ppl more upset about his socials than anything.

 

Rbs who are very good to elite, are getting paid.  Cook is in that very good category, for his elite acceleration alone.  If he leaves Buffalo someday, some team will utilize him all 3 downs more consistently.  He's a weapon in the pass game, more ways to chip/protect than always using your RB.  H9nestly, Ty wasn't asked to block much LY on his 3rd down appearances.  He was out in routes 90%+

Some of us are more fearful of the substance of Cook's message, wanting top tier dollar, the $15M remark.

 

I don't know where you are getting this "RBs who are very good to elite, are getting paid" from.  According to Spotrac only 5 RS average over $10M a season - Barkley/McCaffrey/Taylor/Kamara+Jacobs.   Cook's statistics are not at the level of those players and that is the $10M mark.

[MasterStrategist]

17 hours ago, Einstein's Dog said:

Some of us are more fearful of the substance of Cook's message, wanting top tier dollar, the $15M remark.

 

I don't know where you are getting this "RBs who are very good to elite, are getting paid" from.  According to Spotrac only 5 RS average over $10M a season - Barkley/McCaffrey/Taylor/Kamara+Jacobs.   Cook's statistics are not at the level of those players and that is the $10M mark.

Forward thinking.... you can't look at contracts as a snapshot in time.

 

It's a fact that the very good to elite guys are getting $12m per.  Cook is in that top 8 discussion IMO.

 

Gibbs, Bijan, even Henry this upcoming year will soon be getting that level.

 

Etienne will likely be hunting 10m per.  

 

Again, Cook is elite at at certain traits, that tend to get paid.  Putting up 18 TDs wasn't a fluke.  We had a good OL, but not some dominant group up front where it's plug in Player A and he replicates that.

 

We shall see this season.  We have to be the only fanbase that discounts an 18 TD season and try to rationalize why it wasnt special.  Cook improved his strenght/contact agility this past year, its the biggest reason for his jump in production.  No reason to expect he wont put up very great #s again next year. 

 

These arguments about the oline are crazy too.  Yes we had our best OL in years.  But....

 

YBC/att & YAC/att (yards before and after contact):

Saquon= 3.8/2.0

Henry=3.1/2.8

Kamara=2.4/1.8

Mixon=2.2/1.9

Cook=2.6/2.3

 

Just some stats...again my opinion is $12-16m range is irrelevant.  More about the GtD $s to me.  Pay him 3 years 24m gtd, as an extension to this year.  I don't care if it's $15m per year, as long as they sturcture the cap to get out of contract in 3 more years (which it won't be a aav of $15m at that point)

 

[SoonerBillsFan]

1 hour ago, MasterStrategist said:

Forward thinking.... you can't look at contracts as a snapshot in time.

 

It's a fact that the very good to elite guys are getting $12m per.  Cook is in that top 8 discussion IMO.

 

Gibbs, Bijan, even Henry this upcoming year will soon be getting that level.

 

Etienne will likely be hunting 10m per.  

 

Again, Cook is elite at at certain traits, that tend to get paid.  Putting up 18 TDs wasn't a fluke.  We had a good OL, but not some dominant group up front where it's plug in Player A and he replicates that.

 

We shall see this season.  We have to be the only fanbase that discounts an 18 TD season and try to rationalize why it wasnt special.  Cook improved his strenght/contact agility this past year, its the biggest reason for his jump in production.  No reason to expect he wont put up very great #s again next year. 

 

These arguments about the oline are crazy too.  Yes we had our best OL in years.  But....

 

YBC/att & YAC/att (yards before and after contact):

Saquon= 3.8/2.0

Henry=3.1/2.8

Kamara=2.4/1.8

Mixon=2.2/1.9

Cook=2.6/2.3

 

Just some stats...again my opinion is $12-16m range is irrelevant.  More about the GtD $s to me.  Pay him 3 years 24m gtd, as an extension to this year.  I don't care if it's $15m per year, as long as they sturcture the cap to get out of contract in 3 more years (which it won't be a aav of $15m at that point)

 

I have no problem guaranteed of 8 mill per.  The problem is he has his assclown brother in his ear.

[DieHardBillsFan]

Point 1 - I hate that he is putting out to the public his expectations.

 

Point 2 - I keep looking at the Chiefs game and the 2 things that keeps popping up in my mind is, we needed to stop the tush push way earlier, and we should have given Cook the ball more...

[transplantbillsfan]

Honestly at this point I want us to extend Cook. He said $15m... unless he's a total idiot (not ruling that out) he's gotta know that all he did was set his ceiling in negotiations.

 

Give him a $13m AAV contact and I think he's happy.

 

Even if we stick with the 4 year contract theme and make it a 4 year, $52m deal, it's really a 5 year, $57m deal with his final year of his rookie contract. And I think all these contracts have an out after year 2 of the extension.

 

Cook is young and doesn't have much wear on his tires... I think 3 years of high level play is a good bet.

[ColoradoBills]

9 minutes ago, transplantbillsfan said:

Honestly at this point I want us to extend Cook. He said $15m... unless he's a total idiot (not ruling that out) he's gotta know that all he did was set his ceiling in negotiations.

 

Give him a $13m AAV contact and I think he's happy.

 

Even if we stick with the 4 year contract theme and make it a 4 year, $52m deal, it's really a 5 year, $57m deal with his final year of his rookie contract. And I think all these contracts have an out after year 2 of the extension.

 

Cook is young and doesn't have much wear on his tires... I think 3 years of high level play is a good bet.

 

I've said IF Beane wants to go with a big RB contract it won't be more than $12.5M AAV.

That puts Cook at 4 on the RB list.  3 is Taylor at $14M and I don't think Beane is going anywhere near that.

 

So, 4 years $50M is tops IMO IF Beane really wants to keep him.

[MR8]

RB is interchangeable and a depreciating asset... Cook isn't Barkely lol, dude played less than 50% of snaps, he's not a 3 down back, what are we even talking about????

 

Trade cook with 56 to move up from Bond, replace him in the 4th with Raheim Sanders, and move on.

 

Johnson+Davis+Sander is more than good enough to move forward.  Spending real money on a RB is just dumb. 

[DJB]

I’ll continue to pound the table that we shouldn’t pay this guy. He is slightly above average and wants top end CMC / Saquon / Henry money

 

F that he’s not worth it. Trade him 

[Buffalo Junction]

On 3/27/2025 at 9:45 PM, Einstein's Dog said:

Some of us are more fearful of the substance of Cook's message, wanting top tier dollar, the $15M remark.

 

I don't know where you are getting this "RBs who are very good to elite, are getting paid" from.  According to Spotrac only 5 RS average over $10M a season - Barkley/McCaffrey/Taylor/Kamara+Jacobs.   Cook's statistics are not at the level of those players and that is the $10M mark.

Cook’s desired salary is not entirely unreasonable. Aaron Jones got a 4/$48M extension from GB years ago despite splitting carries after a similar season… same money as Jacobs. Plus, Barkley also just reset the market with $20 mil per season. RBs that can break a game open and are threats in the passing game get paid. I’m not sure if Beane will pay that, but some team likely will. 

[stlbills13]

Cook going the social media route makes him worth less than if he had just done business professionally

[QCity]

22 hours ago, MasterStrategist said:

Just some stats...again my opinion is $12-16m range is irrelevant.  More about the GtD $s to me.

 

 

You are absolutely correct, the AAV is irrelevant. Those arguing about $12M, $13M, $15M AAV etc aren't completely understanding the situation. Second contracts given to RBs are judged by term AKA gtd money more so than any other position.

[FLFan]

4 hours ago, MR8 said:

RB is interchangeable and a depreciating asset... Cook isn't Barkely lol, dude played less than 50% of snaps, he's not a 3 down back, what are we even talking about????

 

Trade cook with 56 to move up from Bond, replace him in the 4th with Raheim Sanders, and move on.

 

Johnson+Davis+Sander is more than good enough to move forward.  Spending real money on a RB is just dumb. 

Excellent post.  It is the crux of the issue.  I firmly believe the Bills have no intention of paying him anything close to his ask, or for that matter, of extending him at all.  They should shop him aggressively before the draft.  If not, Cook has no other viable option than to show up and perform, or he will be at the bottom of the pile next year.  

[FireChans]

On 3/27/2025 at 10:48 AM, H2o said:

Yeah, the Bills aren't going for that. If he starts a holdout that even keeps him out for TC and most of the Preseason, I think he's gone. They'll take whatever they can get for him at that point and send him packing. They will not allow a RB to become a distraction. We got rid of a WR last year who was a constant thorn, one that all of the outside heads said this offense couldn't make it without, then JA17 wins MVP. Cook will be treated the same if he becomes a problem as well. 

Problem with this strategy is that if Cook hits FA and gets a big deal, he may contribute a 3rd or 4th in a comp pick. Does it make sense to sell him during a hold out for 2 fifth’s?

 

one of the einstein’s, either @Einstein's Dog or @Einstein is right. If Beane thinks this is heading to a hold out, get rid of him now.

[H2o]

5 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Problem with this strategy is that if Cook hits FA and gets a big deal, he may contribute a 3rd or 4th in a comp pick. Does it make sense to sell him during a hold out for 2 fifth’s?

 

one of the einstein’s, either @Einstein's Dog or @Einstein is right. If Beane thinks this is heading to a hold out, get rid of him now.

It depends on how the situation is viewed from within. If it is viewed as something that would be a distraction to the team and cause problems, I think they look for the best deal from a team that will give him a contract like he is looking for. Comp picks can't bring peace or develop team chemistry. Sometimes it's best to go ahead and remove the person from the situation. 

[Spiderweb]

On 3/27/2025 at 9:45 PM, Einstein's Dog said:

Some of us are more fearful of the substance of Cook's message, wanting top tier dollar, the $15M remark.

 

I don't know where you are getting this "RBs who are very good to elite, are getting paid" from.  According to Spotrac only 5 RS average over $10M a season - Barkley/McCaffrey/Taylor/Kamara+Jacobs.   Cook's statistics are not at the level of those players and that is the $10M mark.

Well said. Cook is not anywhere near Barkley or Henry, etc. His biggest mistake was getting on the "social media". Sometimes it's best to remain silent and allow others to think of you as a fool, than to open your mouth.........