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If established, starting NFL vets (minus evergreen speed freaks like Darrell Green) are demonstrably slower after several years in the league, doesn't that legitimately deprioritize combine and pro day 40 times overall? Modern pre-draft speed training isn't exactly correlated with on-field impacts. Losing weight and training 3-point get-offs to trim hundredths off your 40 isn't exactly preparing these rookies for the rigors of an NFL campaign. The fact that NFL vets are potentially several tenths slower than their younger counterparts actually proves that 40 times are arbitrary, provided those vets are still legitimate starters. One can run a "meh" 40 but still have more than enough speed. NFL history is filled with 4.5+ guys who consistently dominated.

Wow Doc. I really respect your opinions but I'm not really sure what to say except, what do you consider going all-in? If the Bills sent a 2nd round pick for Metcalf and signed him to a 4 year $132 million contract with $60 million guaranteed at signing, you wouldn't consider the Bills as going all-in?

I think it was more of not putting too much on Hairston too soon and also to truly test where he's at after not looking very good last season, but returning to a scheme better suited to him than LA and Baltimore.

No. Trading for Metcalf for a 2nd like the Steelers did and signing him to a four year deal isn't going all in when they'll get him in a WR's prime years at age 27-30. Our offense after trading for Diggs at 27 went on to average the four best seasons in offensive yards in franchise history. RB was an afterthought.

If that's the case, can you please prove it? On what basis are you contradicting the reporting of The Athletic?

We already tried that with signing Damien Harris to replace Singletary because of Beane's whiff of a draft pick with Moss. Dobbins has missed more games than he's played starting his rookie year. Chubb was Cleveland Brown's fans most beloved player and his injury was so gruesome they didn't even resign him at $2.5m as he averaged 3.3 ypc last year. Those are kind of worst case scenario signings when you don't draft and develop properly.

This discussion really doesn't work unless we're more specific about contract details. Really the question is, what is a contract that is commensurate with the impact that Cook makes on the field? That said I agree with the OP that there's this groupthink regarding running backs which causes teams (and fans) to be dogmatic and not diligent enough about running back valuation. Philly and Baltimore are arguably the best managed franchises in the NFL and both saw the wisdom of a big money contract for a running back. As a regular reader of this forum it's my opinion that James Cook is not valued as highly as he should be and I agree with the OP's thesis. Cook to me is much closer to a "unicorn" than he is a "solid player" in my book. I see where people here are devaluing Cook due to % of snap counts. Running back by committee is a widespread league practice which is ostensibly to keep the running backs fresh and reduce their injury risk. This is a legit reason for the practice. However, limiting RB snaps also conveniently allows NFL teams to limit the contracts given to running backs and no one will ever convince me that the Bills aren't a better team with Cook in on 3rd downs instead of Ty Johnson. How much is Cook worth if he's getting 300 touches per year? Well we don't know that because the Bills don't give him the opportunity. Could he "take over a game?" I don't see why not based on his elite 99th percentile yards per touch over 3 years. Gabriel Davis' contract was 3 years, $39 million with $24 million guaranteed at signing. That's big money in my book. I'm not sure if @Simon was implying that the Bills don't trust Cook and have legit reasons to not trust him but it's unbelievable to me that in the Bills' biggest moment of need, that he was not on the field... and I don't chalk that up to to good decision making. Final thought... there are plenty of posters here who want to go "all-in" to win a Super Bowl and cite actions such as trading for DJ Metcalf etc. If you want to go all-in to win a Super Bowl, how about simply paying James Cook a few more million dollars?

Looking good 👀

And we guaranteed OJ Howard 3.2m. Didn't save him when he didn't perform well in the Offseason either... I get it. We all love Tre. We all want to see him here. But he's not guaranteed a roster spot just bc he's Tre and we love him. Even if he runs with the 1's in June, if he continues to have consistently negative days like he did in OTA's, he's not safe. He has to earn it. There's too much depth. There's only 2, maybe 3 roster spots if they carry an extra this year. In addition to Tre, there's 2 Draft Picks (beyond Hairston), Ja'Marcus Ingram (who is a core Special Teamer), and Dane Jackson. They're not going to cut someone who is outperforming him with all the guys we have just out of love and respect. 2.2m isn't a safe guarantee number. And with a presumed Rookie starter (and likely at least 1, if not 2 Rookies underneath if Hancock isn't considered a Safety) - we need a vet we can count on. If it isn't Tre, Dane being on the Practice Squad doesn't help, if he's the better player.

How come Milwaukee is not in contention? Decent sized market in a state with hockey roots.

He often talks out of both sides of his mouth because of the split between traditional conservatives and MAGA conservatives on specific issues despite their being an overlap on most. Specifically when it comes to foreign policy where most the former see strength through force and more of the latter see avoid wars at all costs. Plus, he has the added barren of his most important responsibility of doing what's best for America as a whole. You saw the same out play with him in how he handled Covid. As president he said it should be up to the individual states and he'll provide whatever federal assistance they feel they'll need. However, on Twitter that night to appease the MAGA base of his supporters he'd tweet or retweet Democratic governors that had a more strict Covid policy. It's not that unique for a president to battle appeasing both his own party and what he thinks is best for America. Trump has the added burden though of appeasing two sides of his party while doing what he thinks is best for the American people. I really don't envy him.

The analysis of the current market and strategy I agree with, but blowing all that money on Cook isn't leveraging the inefficiency of the market correctly. Letting cook walk and signing someone like JK Dobbins who averaged 4.6 YPC last year for 2.4M would be leveraging inefficiency in the market. Similarly signing Nick Chubb to a 2.5m deal also would have been the same. The whole idea is to get value. Cook as the 4th highest paid RB will never be value.

Not any of the games....I'm talking about games that matter. High leverage games like afcc, SB's or any playoff game against KC in the Allen era. We don't have a gamewrecker on defense anywhere? Sure Taron and Carlton made nice plays but did they translate to a championship?...No! Historically, the main reason we've failed to win a championship during the 90's and now remains defensive limitations. Too bad we don't have a young Bruce right now to compliment Josh.

It's so o-line dependent though. You have to have the guts as a GM to give an elite RB like Barkley a big contract with the assumption that your o-line will stay good. Barkley behind a crappy Giants o-line gained 3.9 ypc. Behind a decent o-line in Philly he averaged 5.8ypc. They can't showcase their skills until they get to that second level of the defense. Barkley amazingly had more yards before contact in 2024 for the Eagles (4.1 yards before contact) than he did yards per carry for the Giants in 2023 (3.9 yards per carry, 1.9 yards before contact). The next closest running back to Barkley was Gibbs at 3.33 yards before contact. For comparison, James Cook had 2.6 yards before contact which ranked 5th in the league last year. Ray Davis only had 1.9 yards before contact mostly because he doesn't have the vision that Cook has and he faced way more stacked boxes. Plus, he's just not as fast.

And yet, they are raiding elementary schools. Anyone got the clip of Stephen Miller raging about janitors in high school? Thats who these MAGAt tools idolize.

You play the odds though. A 2nd contract for any position is more likely to hit than a 2nd contract to a RB. It's why their franchise tag is the lowest of any position besides kicker and punter.

Smooth video. Liked it. Nice job!

Lots of Beach Boys songs about young girls and fast cars. Guess you didn’t get in trouble for those things back then

Three hundred friends and finding more? Dang! Oughta run for office.

All you gotta do is ask yourself one question. If Taco was proven to be a Russian asset, what would have been different from what he has done (or not done)?

They also guaranteed 2.2 mil. That alone also doesn’t mean he makes the team. But in combination with him running with the ones it starts to mean more. Heck if Dane out performs him you probably can still stash Dane on the PS and call him up for 2 games and save 1.5 mil on the cap.

I dunno man, it's possible to call out Israel for starving Gazans and also support this attack. Israel has the best intelligence service in the world, and if they decided to attack Iran at this magnitude, they must have felt is was "now or never" in terms of Iran's progression toward a nuke. While Bibi is a far right extremist, there is still an extremely professional defense and leadership apparatus in place in Israel. This would not have happened without solid, actionable, intelligence that Iran was very very close. They have a right to prevent a sworn enemy from acquiring weapons that will endanger their survival.