Thurman#1

They should extend both of them - - if the terms are reasonable. It begins to look like Cook won't settle for reasonable terms. Which is his right. But no, we shouldn't extend him at $15M AAV, or close. No huge rush, but if there's mutuality soon, that would be great.

Spotrac estimated him at $25M. https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/2652/nfl-contract-extension-candidates This isn't an overpay. It's a risk. They all are, but this is maybe a bit more than most. My guess is that if they put a few more dangerous guys on the other end at DE and in the middle, Rousseau suddenly "improves."

Jeez, this is amazing. Three core guys to be here a long time, all of them at surprisingly reasonable costs as we bring them in early. Really really hoping that making the finances clearer in this way allows them to bring back Benford as well. What this does financially is nicely eliminate some unknown and clear up the whole situation. I am loving this.

First, take another look. That's now TWO pure mistakes you've made, within like a page. I didn't insult you. I insulted your opinion. And just to repeat, the reason that I called your opinion dumb, is that it's dumb. So, when you say, referring to my post, "they go to personal insults," you're wrong. And when you say, "they can't just talk about the subject, wrong again. I guess being wrong so consistently could be said to apply to the quality of the posters, possibly. But that would be you saying that, not me. And yet again, you are seriously mis-using the word second-rate. Again, if you check the dictionary, you might possibly at the very least change the way you expressed yourself there. Because, again, saying that the Bills GM, the Bills coach, and the Bills roster are "second-rate" is just dumbage. See what I did there, yet again? I insulted an opinion.

Again, buy yourself a dictionary. You are completely misusing the phrase "second-rate." It doesn't mean what you apparently think it does. Calling the Bills coach, GM or roster second-rate is just pure dumbage. Says a ton more about you than it does about the Bills. Claiming that it's ridiculous to call it all excellent, as you did in another post here? Much more reasonable. Worth having a discussion about. Calling it all second-rate, though? Just dumb.

More trolling? *snore*

I don't see any particular rush. The order doesn't matter much, IMO. I'd love to see them talking but if they think they can get a better deal in a few months when the pressure is a bit higher, it's alright with me. Certainly I'd like to see them extend Benford, though. My guess it's coming whether or not he's next. Sign Cook for an extension? Sure, that'd be great. Sign Cook for an extension for the price he's asking? No, no thanks. It all depends on the contract language of course, but $15M AAV for Cook does not look good. Or likely. But if that was just an opening shot, by all means bring him back.

A good reminder. Well worth hearing again. And again and again.

No thanks. Losing a first for the right to pay a giant salary? No, thanks. Metcalf is an absolutely excellent player. But this level of opportunity cost? Hell, no. If bringing him in takes away the opportunity to bring in probably two or even three good defensive guys, which is where our real needs are, I'd sadly pass him by.

Good move!!! I like it. It does have an injury risk, but it's not wildly high, and the guarantee is not low but not tremendously high. If he stays mostly healthy this will come to be seen as a very good move.

Nah. When what you get from the horses mouth lines up with what makes sense ... it's probably simply because it's right despite some people wanting to believe in a conspiracy for which there's zero evidence.

Yeah, people with distorted views do find humor in stuff that's not actually funny. People who you go into their barn and you see it's filled with torches and pitchforks and "McDermott is the monster," signs? They come across an observatory and perceive a church? Those guys? Yeah, guys like that do indeed tend to have warped senses of humor. But we shouldn't hold it against them. Kinda cute, really.

I'd love that deal for Hendrickson. But if I were the Bengals I wouldn't do it. Of course, the Bengals do stuff that seems to hurt them all the time. So, who knows.

Big respect out to Mitch. He was effective and fun to watch, and from all reports a really good person. Best of luck to him in retirement. Oh, and being one of the few OL players doesn't make you seem a lot better. It makes your job a lot harder. Give me Wood at #2, though I don't think Morse was far behind.

All you've got to do to know that's not true is to look at his first year. Tying for 7th in receptions and being 10th in yards - as a rookie - and you know he's plenty good. How good exactly? Not enough info yet. In any case, saw this recommended in the Shout podcast and I took a look. https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/matthew-berry/news/matthew-berrys-25-most-interesting-things-he-heard-at-2025-nfl-combine The relevant part: "22. I talked with a Bills source who told me Dalton Kincaid’s lack of production last year was because he was a lot more injured than folks realized. 'He’s gonna be a sleeper next year, trust me,' I was told. What about Amari Cooper, I asked? A shrug. 'He might be done.' The implication to me being that Cooper’s days as an elite WR1 might be over, not that he would be leaving Buffalo. I still expect that if anyone would be the focal point of the Bills’ passing offense, it would have to be Khalil Shakir."

What you do, you go buy yourself a dictionary. Then you look up the phrase "second rate." Then, if you've got a clue you'll find that neither Brandon Beane nor Sean McDermott nor the entire Bills roster could be called second-rate, unless the person doing the calling had a mind that was second-rate.

It is indeed, it is a really close bit of mimicry of a bunch of rather sad fellows.

I'd be happy with this if Slayton is available at the right price. I'm now seeing it written that the relatively shallow draft pool of WRs might raise FA WR prices, and that Slayton might be a lot more expensive than people are projecting right now.

They ain't promising Metcalf to anybody.

The only thing "mindless" about a snap count argument is that it completely destroys your argument. Yes, the Bills have won 37 games with Cook. Because they're a good team. Duh. Cook has a part of that. But not as much of a part of it as McCaffrey and Barkley have for their teams wins. But the idea that the Bills won 37 games and the Niners only won 31 and that means Cook is better than McCaffrey? Dude, that's the kind of dumb idea you hear in the corridors of mental hospitals. You know who is much much much more germane to those numbers? The QBs of those two teams. Duh! Seriously, that's just stupid. Football is a team sport, and wins are team wins. Anyone pretending that wins are RB wins is showing he's nuts. By that standard, Saquon Barkley must suck. When in reality he's the best in the league. "Value to a team is production with his opportunities." Um, no. the idea's dumb. If that were true, a guy with five snaps who was pretty well in those five snaps would be someone we'd need to add. What you need is a guy who is on the field a lot. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a wonderful thing if a guy has a loud voice and a violent clap and stands on the bench and cheers loudly. Not as wonderful as a guy who the team values enough to get him out on the field a lot. "This colossal waste of time," you say? Yup. Because your argument is dumb. He's a very good player. But he's much more limited than those two. He isn't even the best on this team at pass blocking, which limits his usefulness. Again, he isn't even the best on the Bills at short yardage. And he appears to be maximized when appearing on the field on 42.8% of snaps. If you think teams are going to pay $15M AAV for an RB who while healthy has been in on 42.8% of snaps, I think you're having a pipe dream. Bad idea for the Bills to spend anywhere near that much on him. Hopefully we get him back at a much more reasonable price, probably somewhere around $10M. Which would still make him the #6 RB, behind McCaffrey, Jonathan Taylor, Saquon, Kamara and Josh Jacobs. That's about the right spot. Care to guess whether any of those five outside of McCaffrey are anywhere near as low in terms of snaps (chances to make a difference) as Cook?

Yikes!!! That's a hell of a frame to look at this through. Wow. He was fun to watch in his day.

Benford's ceiling is one of the top four or five CBs in the league. He can absolutely play CB1. The D played very well the first couple of games of the playoffs, and so did Benford. Against KC, he was coming back from a concussion during the Ravens game and then suffered another in-game injury. This meant he only played 18% of the snaps. And it was mostly after he left that the Chiefs offense took off. Elam was in for most of that game. Agreed, though, that a big DL move would be the biggest one-transaction step-up we could take. But Rasul or Rasul's replacement will be a major concern this season, and wouldn't be suprised to see them making a reasonably big move at safety, though even after the combine I doubt it will be in Round one.

Star did a very good job his first years here. Then COVID hit and he skipped the year, came back without getting vaccinated, started great in camp and for a game or two, but caught COVID, missed a lot of the season and after he came back, was never even close to the same. But his first year here our YPA in run defense dropped like a stone. And stayed down during his second year here. And soared again when he took the year off. 2017 24th (w/out Star) 2018 9th (w/ Star) 2019 13th (w/ Star) 2020 26th (Star opts out because of COVID) He was never much of a pass rusher, but he was a very good space eater for those first couple of years.

Yup, Garrett. Trey Hendrickson after that, probably. Third, maybe Crosby. No thanks to the expensive WRs. Bring us in a #2.

I see. So you're saying that availability is a super power and very important. But that playing a lot is a bad thing because it might lead to injury. Man, I've heard some dumb arguments, but that's right up there. Availability is important because it lets you play a lot. Not because you get to spend more time on the bench watching the games than the guys who are back at TBD in the rehab facilities. And no, I didn't neglect to mention games. You'd already mentioned it. I pointed out that snaps are what is important. Duh. What matters is how many plays you are on the field. You can only make a difference on the field. From the bench, you don't make a difference. Unless you feel that Cook's cheering and clapping are so energetic and encouraging that they're a weapon in themselves? Do you think a guy on the bench makes an impact like the guy on the field? On the plays when Cook is healthy but not good enough to be on the field ahead of Ty Johnson or Ray Davis, he does the team exactly as much good on that snap as does the long snapper sitting next to him. Cook is more explosive than any other RB we have. But on snaps when the RB might need to pass block as a third-down back or try to smash his way in short yardage, he gets pulled and gets a chance to try out his cheering skills. But Barkley and McCaffrey stay on the field because it's within their skill sets. Barkley's total snaps in his first three years: 1647 McCaffrey's total snaps in his first three years: 2751 Cook's total snaps in his first three years: 1388 Barkley's total snaps in the last three years: 2374 McCaffrey's total snaps in the last three years: 1756 Cook's total snaps in the last three years: 1388 Barkley's average snaps per year for his whole career: 647.7 McCaffrey's average snaps per year for his whole career: 618.75 Cook's average snaps per year for his whole career: 462.6 You want a guy who will be available, both in terms of health and in terms of being the best guy on the team to be out there in all situations, you take Barkley and McCaffrey over Cook. It's that simple. McCaffrey and Barkley have simply been out there more often. And again, I like Cook. A lot. But does he rank up there with the highest paid guys in the league? You are the one who started talking about how important availability is. Cook hasn't been available in terms of being out on the field as those other two. That's why he won't get their money, in my opinion, and why the Bills shouldn't pay him that much, again in my opinion. I want football players to be confident as hell. I think it's fine that he wants that kind of money and that he asks for it. But that doesn't mean the Bills should give him what he asks for. Or at least not unless he starts getting on the field and producing the way the big boys do. At 190, I don't think it likely he'll ever be a guy who gets a ton of snaps the way that McCaffrey does at 210 or Barkley at 232. Still a guy you want on your team, though, all being equal. But things aren't equal. Some guys get paid more. Some less. Some too much, and that's what you want to stay away from.