Eagles reset RB market, extend Barkley.

[DrDawkinstein]

1 hour ago, appoo said:

Bills can't have a 45M-50M QB and a 15M RB. That's just reality. If it came down to it. I'd rather trade cook for a 2nd or late 1st, resign Ty Johnson, and draft a 4th/5th round RB and start Davis. 

 

And then use all them high draft picks to reinvigorate the talent on D

 

Jalen Hurts signed a bigger contract than Josh, and the Eagles just did this. That is reality too.

[Big Turk]

19 minutes ago, Brand J said:

Once defenses started building to stop the pass and starting quality WRs became plentiful in the draft, I knew the value of RBs was due to increase. In NO WORLD was Justin Jefferson worth $35M/yr versus Saquon Barkley at $13M/yr, that was just ridiculous. And even more a slap in the face contractually considering Barkley just won OPOTY and was in the mix for NFL MVP.
 

It’s a passing league, so I get that a WR will have slightly more value to an offense (say if Barkley and Jefferson were on the same team), but the contracts for the two positions had long been out of whack. Cook was the second best player on our offense this year, more valuable than Shakir, but we all (rightly) thought that Shakir at $15M/yr was great value while Cook at the same amount was absurd. Thinking that way was absurd, but it was made absurd due to the low money given to RBs.
 

Next up the WR contracts should come back down to earth a bit. If I was a GM, I’m not paying the position more than $30M/yr, I don’t care who it is. They’re still well overvalued considering how defenses now play the pass and the number of good to great WRs that exist in the league.

 

Think we are seeing that the league trends towards whatever teams think they can take advantage of offensively.  With the advent of smaller, faster players and shell coverages, it has swung back heavily towards running the ball for good teams.

[Magox]

1 minute ago, Big Turk said:

 

Think we are seeing that the league trends towards whatever teams think they can take advantage of offensively.  With the advent of smaller, faster players and shell coverages, it has swung back heavily towards running the ball for good teams.

 

Yeah, that's how it works, that is how the league evolves.  Teams adjust, then teams begin to readjust then teams readjust to those readjustments and so on and so on.

 

 

[Big Turk]

4 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Jalen Hurts signed a bigger contract than Josh, and the Eagles just did this. That is reality too.

 

And they have 2 WR's that average a combined $57 million a year in AJ Brown and Devonta Smith to boot...they breaking all the rules.

[Steptide]

Saquon carried the eagles all year. Had double the yards cook had. Cook can't compare himself to saquon. Give him a fair deal , but if he thinks beane will give him anywhere near 20 mil, he's insane. 12mil/yr with incentives seems fair to me 

Edited 4 hours ago by Steptide

[DrDawkinstein]

3 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

And they have 2 WR's that average a combined $57 million a year in AJ Brown and Devonta Smith to boot...they breaking all the rules.

 

[Magox]

4 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

And they have 2 WR's that average a combined $57 million a year in AJ Brown and Devonta Smith to boot...they breaking all the rules.

And they have both tackles making over $20M+ 

 

And they also have a guard they are paying $20M

[Big Turk]

Just now, DrDawkinstein said:

 

 

The first rule about the Salary Cap?

 

There are no rules 😂

[GASabresIUFan]

1 minute ago, Magox said:

 

People can either deny facts or accept them and the fact is that teams are running the ball a lot more than they have and the top teams are running more than the rest of the league.    It was just a matter of time before the cycle would reverse.   

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/dec/24/nfl-running-back-renaissance-ground-attack

Quote

The NFL is said to be a passing league with running backs are no longer critical to success. The metrics are telling a different story in 2024 – and not just in Philly and Baltimore

Nice photo of Cook at the top of the article.

 

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/return-back-why-demise-rb-greatly-exaggerated

https://www.colts.com/news/workhorse-running-backs-made-a-comeback-in-2024-with-colts-jonathan-taylor-a-part-of-the-resurgence

https://www.theringer.com/2025/01/10/nfl/nfl-running-back-revival-saquon-barkley-derrick-henry-josh-jacobs-wild-card-round-playoffs

 

There are plenty of additional stories.  

 

10 years ago the NFL moved away from the running backs because they had limited shelf life's, teams started throwing the ball all over the place and defenses were a step behind.  Now the D have caught up again and teams are going back to more balanced attacks.   Admittedly workhorse 300 carry backs are still the exception, but the Bills offense needs a go to running back and Cook is that player.  He is the 2nd most important skill player on the Bills after Josh.

 

Now that Barkley has reset the market, it's time to lock up our key back to a fair contract.  Cook is still young and has the advantage of not being overused in college or in the pros.  People need to remember that Cook has had less carries in college and the pros than Davis.  Someone mentioned 4-5% of the cap and that seems fair. 

 

People here have mentioned that Cook is a product of our good Oline.  McD doesn't agree and while it may have some limited truth, it doesn't explain why Cook had a yard per carry more than Davis behind the same Oline.  

[Doc Brown]

Um, guys.  I don't want to speak out of school here but I believe Cook might want a raise.

 

 

[Buffalo716]

1 hour ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

Yeah, package him as partofa trade.

He's a small rb looking for a big contract...

 

It doesn't have a lot of value.. by himself he's worth like a fourth round pick right now because of what he wants 

 

I'd rather just run them into the ground next year and then let him go then give him up for that

[Mikie2times]

13 minutes ago, Magox said:

And they have both tackles making over $20M+ 

 

And they also have a guard they are paying $20M

And they're in the Garret sweepstakes 

 

This is a bit of a better look. This is the actual 2025 cap hit. We have 20 million+ on Allen vs Hurts, 20+ million in Von, Knox makes double what they pay DeVonta Smith. Considering some of the dead cap that isn't listed here, comparing our cap hits with the champs sort of shows why we aren't. We have all sort of bad usage comparatively speaking. 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Mikie2times

[Magox]

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/dec/24/nfl-running-back-renaissance-ground-attack

Nice photo of Cook at the top of the article.

 

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/return-back-why-demise-rb-greatly-exaggerated

https://www.colts.com/news/workhorse-running-backs-made-a-comeback-in-2024-with-colts-jonathan-taylor-a-part-of-the-resurgence

https://www.theringer.com/2025/01/10/nfl/nfl-running-back-revival-saquon-barkley-derrick-henry-josh-jacobs-wild-card-round-playoffs

 

There are plenty of additional stories.  

 

10 years ago the NFL moved away from the running backs because they had limited shelf life's, teams started throwing the ball all over the place and defenses were a step behind.  Now the D have caught up again and teams are going back to more balanced attacks.   Admittedly workhorse 300 carry backs are still the exception, but the Bills offense needs a go to running back and Cook is that player.  He is the 2nd most important skill player on the Bills after Josh.

 

Now that Barkley has reset the market, it's time to lock up our key back to a fair contract.  Cook is still young and has the advantage of not being overused in college or in the pros.  People need to remember that Cook has had less carries in college and the pros than Davis.  Someone mentioned 4-5% of the cap and that seems fair. 

 

People here have mentioned that Cook is a product of our good Oline.  McD doesn't agree and while it may have some limited truth, it doesn't explain why Cook had a yard per carry more than Davis behind the same Oline.  

 

 

Thanks for finding this, it validates the point that RB valuations were out of whack.    We can argue about subjectivity all day long and get no where which typically are for the people who argue with feelings, their thoughts etc.   Or you can make objective arguments and look at the data, stats, metrics and trends and when you look at the numbers it's clear, RB utilization is increasing and the importance of balance is more important than it has been in over two decades, and that the best teams are largely running the ball more often than the rest of the league.   I think another point of data is that we saw RB's such as Jacobs, Mixon, Saquon and Henry all leave teams that didn't want to pay the few extra bucks and all 4 teams that let them go were worse for it.

 

 

[Chicken Boo]

I love this.  Saquon deserves it.

 

RBs take the most punishment in the league and the elite guys deserve to be paid accordingly.

[DapperCam]

So it’s really $18m per year guaranteed

[Augie]

The Browns wanted to be what the Eagles have become. A team that flaunts the salary cap and has it pay off with something good, at least for a while. The Browns screwed themselves with the Watson contract, and they have nothing but misery to show for it. Eventually the Eagles will have to eat all those void years, but the fans are having fun now! 

[Chicken Boo]

2 hours ago, appoo said:

Ain't no other Saquon Barkley's out there. I love Cook but he's probably two tiers below Barkley

 

Just the same, his next contract just jumped a tick, barring any unforseen circumstances.  

[Magox]

Just now, DapperCam said:

So it’s really $18m per year guaranteed

 

Prior to this signing I believe that Cook could have been had for $12.5M AAV, I think now he will be around $14M - $15M AAV.   They could do a $13M AAV guarantee with performance sweeteners that could take it to $16M.

 

I do think that they will utilize him more than they did in the past and that Ty Johnson would most likely be a goner if they do decide to extend him.   I think it will happen. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

2 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

And they're in the Garret sweepstakes 

 

This is a bit of a better look. This is the actual 2025 cap hit. We have 20 million+ on Allen vs Hurts, 20+ million in Von, Knox makes double what they pay DeVonta Smith. Considering some of the dead cap that isn't listed here, comparing our cap hits with the champs sort of shows why we aren't. We have all sort of bad usage comparatively speaking. 

 

Eagles added 4 void year to Hurts deal. The Bills added 0 to Josh Allen’s deal. Big difference. 

[jwhit34]

Guess the RB based on the past two years' stats:

 

RB                                  Rush Yds            Rec Yds     Total TDs

1                                  2,357                  833               31

2                                 2,134                   579               18

3                                 2,131                    703               24

4                                 2,050                  685               24

5                                 2,097                  404               16

6                                 2,078                  453               14

7                                 2,084                  549               11

 

#1 is clearly a cut above the others. If you use 34 games (I didn't adjust for games missed) then #s 2-7 averaged between 74-83 total yards per game, so really no difference at all. There is wide disparity in TDs, and for most of them they varied a lot year-to-year.

 

The reveal:

#1 is Jahmyr Gibbs. He is great, imagine if he didn't split time with Montgomery.

 

Most people on this board probably can guess which one is James Cook in no more than 2 guesses. Knowing his 2024 TDs is a dead giveaway.

 

Cook is #3

Joe Mixon is #4

 

#2 is James Conner

 

#5 is Chuba Hubbard

#6 is Najee Harris

#7 is Tony Pollard

 

What's the point? Outside of Gibbs, these are not top tier RBs and their stats are essentially the same except for the TDs. Some have played with pedestrian QBs at best (Hubbard, Harris, Conner), Pollard split time in Dallas 1 year and played on an awful TEN team, which leaves Mixon and Cook. 

 

Cook is a really nice player but he is not super distinguishable from the mid-level RBs in the league.