Has Cook talked himself OFF the Bills for 2025

[GASabresIUFan]

2 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

How do we know Davis isn't elite? He needs to play a full season and see what he can do.

He isn’t.  His average yards per carry was a yard less than Cook.  He also isn’t as fast.  He might be a starter on a below average team.  
 

He also is the same age as Cook and has less tread on the tire after significantly more carries in college. 

Edited yesterday at 12:37 AM by GASabresIUFan

[SoonerBillsFan]

12 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

He isn’t.  His average yards per carry was a yard less than Cook.  He also isn’t as fast.  He might be a starter on a below average team.  
 

He also is the same age as Cook and has less tread on the tire after significantly more carries in college. 

You can't make a determination on such a small sample size 

[Maine-iac]

4th quarter carries.  Cook 37 for a 2.4 yard average.  Davis 53 for a 3.1 yard average.  Davis averages less per carry because they give him the carries at the end of the game to run out the clock.  More than half of Davis's caries were 4th quarter running out the clock carries.  If you look half to half Davis averages 5.3 and Cook averages 5.8.  It's certainly plausible that Davis just gets a much larger percentage of grind the game out carries otherwise their averages would be far more similar.  Do I think Cook is a better home run back?  Yes.  Do I want to pay him 15 million?  Not for a second.  Am I undervaluing him?  No.  He's not worth 15 million.  If he runs his mouth all offseason and signs a 13 million dollar extension then good for him and welcome back.  He runs his mouth all offseason they offer him 12 he doesn't like it and they eventually trade him away I'll wish him good luck and Davis will run somewhere around 1,000 yards and put up double digit TD's.  

Edited yesterday at 12:59 AM by Maine-iac

[CoudyBills]

23 hours ago, DeepPass said:

He's a very good running back,  He's a very good receiver.  He stated he should be on the field for all 3 downs.  Obviously, this goes against "everyone eats" philosophy. He wants somewhere between $8 to $15 mil per season.  That's Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry type money.

 

Does he hold out?  Does he sign a lower contract to stay with the Bills?  Will he be traded with a draft pick allowing the Bills to move up substantially in the 2025 draft?

 

The Bills have a long history of very good running backs (Simpson & Thomas were GREAT RB's) even in the dark ages with Terry Miller, Greg Bell, Joe Cribbs and CJ Spiller.all playing a significant role for the Bills in rushing and receiving.  Do we really need to have one of the highest paid backs in the League?

 

Comments Please!   Go Bills!

 

I beg to differ on the receiver point.  He is a reliable dropper of wide open touchdowns.  

[Julio Hopkins]

On 3/21/2025 at 11:10 PM, poblano said:

   This is incorrect,   he isn't so polished as pass blocker, therefore the team has to get it out on most 3rd downs,  as the final series of AFCCG   demonstrated 

 

 

Who cares?

 

Let him run routes on third down because he is a legitimate receiving threat.  

[GASabresIUFan]

3 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

You can't make a determination on such a small sample size 

He had 100+ carries last year.  That isn't a small sample size and considering he did it with the same O Line, running the same playbook, it's a pretty fair comparison.  

 

 

[Warriorspikes51]

Someone on here hinted at knowing things Cook does off the field as to why we shouldn’t extend him

 

whoever that is, could you please elaborate

[The Firebaugh Kid]

3 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Someone on here hinted at knowing things Cook does off the field as to why we shouldn’t extend him

 

whoever that is, could you please elaborate

Like being high as hell all the time? I had no idea

[jethro_tull]

16 touchdowns?  Pay the mofo ! 

[DrDawkinstein]

6 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Someone on here hinted at knowing things Cook does off the field as to why we shouldn’t extend him

 

whoever that is, could you please elaborate

 

6 hours ago, The Firebaugh Kid said:

Like being high as hell all the time? I had no idea

 

That's 90% of the team/NFL. The league doesnt even test for it anymore.

 

Beyond that... A real shame for fans to start personally attacking/slandering the guy with no real evidence just because he's trying to maximize his one-time payout from the trillion dollar NFL.

[CoudyBills]

14 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

He isn’t.  His average yards per carry was a yard less than Cook.  He also isn’t as fast.  He might be a starter on a below average team.  
 

He also is the same age as Cook and has less tread on the tire after significantly more carries in college. 

First 2 points are solid, last point doesn't hold water? It's about 55 touches difference.  Unless the sites I referenced are off.  I thought one of the talking points this year was how their touches were pretty even going into the year.  

[JP51]

On 3/22/2025 at 5:27 AM, SoonerBillsFan said:

I feel Davis can replace him.

I get the sentiment here.... yes he is super important but there is another guy gonna go in and play... so what is the drop off... and is the drop off worth 12mm .... I am thinking no 

[JakeFrommStateFarm]

Cook is explosive. 

 

He scored 18 total TDs last season. Who will replace that ?.

 

He's a key cog in the Brady offense. 

 

He's the 2nd best player on offense. Josh needs help

 

Davis is a nice player but he doesn't have the breakaway speed of Cook.

 

Josh has already approved his resigning.

 

Edited 14 hours ago by JakeFrommStateFarm

[DrDawkinstein]

Two points to address:

 

1. It's our OL...

Sure, but that's always a part of EVERY good/great RB (outside of maybe Barry Sanders, who retired early because he was sick of running behind a bad OL). OJ had the Electric Company, Thurman had 5 All-Pros in front of him. No one diminished their abilities because of their OL.

 

2. He can be easily replaced/Davis can replace him...

I already illustrated a few pages back that Beane has spent multiple day-2 picks and plenty of FA resources before we were able to find Cook. As far as the backup, Ray Davis is no James Cook. He just isnt. I know we all love the feel good story of the up-and-comer, but he is not as talented as Cook. Speaking of Davis, we had a great backup to Thurman in Kenny Davis, but Kenny was no Thurman. One could even argue Ray is no Kenny. We'll see.

 

I'm not saying Cook is anything close to OJ or Thurman, but he is far closer to them and their situations than our other options.

[NewEra]

15 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

He isn’t.  His average yards per carry was a yard less than Cook.  He also isn’t as fast.  He might be a starter on a below average team.  
 

He also is the same age as Cook and has less tread on the tire after significantly more carries in college. 

I’m not saying Davis is elite or not.  I’d lean towards not, but using the ypc from last season doesn’t  mean much.  Davis had a much higher percentage of carries at the end of games with a lead.  He ran into several brick walls vs defenses knowing we were killing clock. 
 

Edit:  cook is clearly the better RB.  His speed is different.  I had hopes that we would retain him, but I don’t think we’re going to pay 15m aav.  
 

id be ok paying him 12ish

Edited 14 hours ago by NewEra

[Doc Brown]

3 hours ago, jethro_tull said:

16 touchdowns?  Pay the mofo ! 

Had two the year before with more touches.  He seemed to put on some muscle and that helped near the goal line.  However, rushing TD's are extremely volatile and it's certainly not the sole reason you re-sign a RB.

[Beast]

I believe Cook will be dealt on day 2 if the draft. This draft is deep at RB and the Bills, having a lot of draft capital, will need to take one this year or next because I don’t see Cook here past this season.

Edited 13 hours ago by Beast

[SoonerBillsFan]

1 hour ago, JP51 said:

I get the sentiment here.... yes he is super important but there is another guy gonna go in and play... so what is the drop off... and is the drop off worth 12mm .... I am thinking no 

He doesn't want 12 mill per, that is what fans think he is worth. HE thinks he is worth 15 mill + per year and has said so.  I don't see him budging

[Mat68]

On 3/21/2025 at 10:53 PM, DeepPass said:

He's a very good running back,  He's a very good receiver.  He stated he should be on the field for all 3 downs.  Obviously, this goes against "everyone eats" philosophy. He wants somewhere between $8 to $15 mil per season.  That's Saquon Barkley or Derrick Henry type money.

 

Does he hold out?  Does he sign a lower contract to stay with the Bills?  Will he be traded with a draft pick allowing the Bills to move up substantially in the 2025 draft?

 

The Bills have a long history of very good running backs (Simpson & Thomas were GREAT RB's) even in the dark ages with Terry Miller, Greg Bell, Joe Cribbs and CJ Spiller.all playing a significant role for the Bills in rushing and receiving.  Do we really need to have one of the highest paid backs in the League?

 

Comments Please!   Go Bills!

 

It’s 5 mil less than Barkley and Mccaffery per year.    Besides Diggs the other investment to the offense since have not work out but Cook.  The offense was at its best when he was running successfully. Maintaining that and sprinkling in more early down PA makes the offense that much better.  The league is trending towards a more run first style of offense.  The Duo run game is dynamic with Cook carrying the ball.  They can afford it.  Do it.  Cap wise it’s less expensive to do it now.  

[Playoffs?]

On 3/21/2025 at 11:52 PM, The Cincinnati Kid said:

James Cook has Dalvin whispering in his ear and that’s probably a problem. Dalvin wasted his best years in the Arctic and doesn’t want his kid brother spending his whole career just below the treeline. My bet, Cook is a Falcon, Jaguar, Buccaneer, Dolphin, Texan, Ram or Charger within 2 full seasons.

Im sure Dalvin is in his ear, but why would weather matter?  In poor weather, don’t teams usually run the ball more?  Didn’t James shine in the snow game versus the 9ers this year?  Isn’t it possible that better weather means more passing?  I don’t know…